Snake Whisper
by Violet-san
Summary: What if, at the very beginning of his fourth summer holidays, Harry Potter had found a small snake in the garden of his relatives? And what if this snake made the difference? Grey!Harry, TMRxHP Slash
1. The Snake

**Chapter 1: The Snake**

It was a hot day at Privet Drive, Little Whinging. People who didn't need to work were eating ice cream in the shadows of the trees or prepared for visiting the local swimming hall or even one of the lakes nearby.

But one child couldn't enjoy the weather. Fourteen-year-old Harry Potter sat in the garden of the house that was known by the address of "Number four, Privet Drive", the House of the Dursley Family. And he didn't even sit in the sun to tan or anything. He sat in one of the corners that wasn't visible to the neighbours and the street, hiding.

Dudley Dursley, his lovely cousin, was searching for him. And whenever Dudley searched for Harry it meant trouble. Especially since Dudley was big and stupid, a great combination for the bully he was, while Harry was skinny and not exactly a big fighter. At least not in a physical sense. He was quite the duellist, but sadly, he could not show his cousin that part. Not only because his school had forbidden it. But because it involved magic. And if there was anything the Dursleys hated, it was the m-word and anything that seemed even remotely not normal. Like Harry, for example.

Because Harry was a wizard. And not just a normal wizard, but Harry-bloody-Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the wizard that had survived the killing curse while he was still an infant, defeating one of the darkest wizards known to mankind when he couldn't even walk.

So he now went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry every year, the best - and only - magical school Great Britain had to offer. But still, Dumbledore - the headmaster of said school - insisted on sending him back to that hellhole his relatives called home every single year. And his relatives weren't exactly happy with that, either. He was quite lucky that his godfather - Sirius Black, who was known as a mass murderer even though he had been framed - kept them in check. Before he had broken out of Azkaban, the wizarding prison, Harry had been forced to do all sorts of labor around the household - like cooking, cleaning or gardening - without getting so much as a 'thank you' for his efforts. Especially so since he was still underage and as such wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school. But now, with the threat of a 'crazy mass murderer', they mostly chose to ignore him, pretending that he didn't exist.

Harry liked the calm, but sadly, even though his uncle Vernon and his aunt Petunia ignored him, their son never did the same. Sure, he was frightened as hell if Harry ever drew his wand, but at other times he and his gang did the same as all the years before. A 'nice' little game called 'Harry hunting'.

Hence the reason why he was currently cowering between Petunias prized magnolia bush and the wall of the house. With the few braincells his cousin had he might remember how to walk and punch, but he almost never found any hiding places Harry chose as long as they weren't too obvious.

Anyway, since Dudley and his gang normally searched him for a while before they got bored, he had already made himself comfortable here.

Sighing slightly, he looked at the clear, blue sky above and the birds that flew through his field of vision. What would he give to be one of them. He loved flying on his broomstick at Hogwarts, but said broom was currently in his tiny bedroom upstairs, hidden away and unusable since there were too many muggles - non-magical people - around.

At these times he envied Hedwig a little bit. His snow-white owl was currently delivering a letter to Ron, his best and first friend since year one, and he was sure she had fun flying around, hunting and doing whatever she did when she was away. But he was also pretty sure, that he wouldn't like whatever answer he got. Just like Hermiones letter last week.

Lately, the letters of both of his friends seemed to get less and less informative. They always wrote him that they were not allowed to talk about whatever they did, but he wondered why they mentioned it at all, then? Making him curious and then not telling him anything... that was downright awful, even if they probably didn't mean it that way.

But he got increasingly wary here, having to live with his way too muggle relatives, completely cut off from the wizarding world except for the few letters of his friends and his copy of the Daily Prophet, which was brought every morning by a grey Ministry owl. But the newspaper these days had no news about anything of interest. Namely, Voldemort.

Despite of the heat, Harry shuddered. Nightmares of the resurrection ritual of the Dark Wizard that had tried to kill him when he was a baby still haunted him. It had taken place only a few month ago, but after that, there was nothing. No sudden deaths, no vanishing muggles, no terror. And since there had been no witnesses of that ritual other than Harry and Voldemorts followers, no one except for Dumbledore and his friends even believed in it. They were quite happy with their peaceful life and didn't want anyone to disturb it.

Though it _was_ strange that nothing had happened yet. Was Voldemort gathering his strength? Was he recruiting? The feeling of not knowing anything was driving him crazy! And the fact that his friends left him out of the loop with whatever _they_ were up to didn't cheer him up at all!

A small rustling sound pulled him out of his musings. Confused, he looked for the source of the rustling - fearing for a second, that Dudley had begun poking the bushes - but he let out a relieved sigh as he saw that the noise had been made by a small snake which had just come out of the little hedge that separated the property of the Dursleys from the neighbours.

Wait a second.

A snake? Here, in Little Whinging?

Harry blinked, surprised, at the little animal. It didn't look like your typical garden snake or anything... though he certainly wasn't an expert on reptiles...

He continued staring at the animal. It had black scales, with a dark brown diamond-pattern that seemed to cover it's whole length of about forty inches, and slitted, yellow coloured eyes that were probably normal for a snake.

The snake itself did already seem a bit strange and out of place, but it all started being really weird as the snake began talking.

_"So this is Harry Potter..."_

Harry stared, baffled, before he remembered that it had to be Parseltongue. Of course, snakes didn't randomly plop out of perfectly muggle hedges and started speaking English! And if he concentrated a bit, he even heard a slight difference.

As he stared, the snake seemed to come to a conclusion and turned back to the hedge, but a hurriedly hissed _"Wait!" _from Harry stopped it.

_"How do you know my name?"_ he asked curiously, since it wasn't exactly common knowledge among snakes.

Said snake only stared at him, before slowly lifting it's head to look him in the eye. _"You are a speaker?"_

_"Um... yes?"_

_"Mother did not tell me that. 'Protect Harry Potter' she said. 'The skinny human with black hair and a scar' she said."_

Now Harry was frowning. He didn't knew any snakes as the only reptiles he had ever spoken to had been the boa constrictor in the zoo three years ago, which didn't know his name, and the basilisk in the chamber of secrets, which he had killed afterwards. So who was 'Mother'?

He asked the little snake, but it just shook its head.

_"Mother said I may not tell anyone of her identity. Not even a speaker, I am sorry. But she seemed very worried about you."_

He pondered that for a moment. He did not know said mother, so he should probably be suspicious, but that little snake did seem worried about him and he could not detect any dishonesty. He wondered briefly if animals were able to lie at all, but then dismissed it.

It didn't matter, at least he had _someone_ who seemed to worry for him. His friends seemed too busy with _not telling_ him anything and Hedwig might have been worried, but he couldn't understand her.

And Sirius... he didn't want to burden his godfather with even more problems, being on the run probably led to more than enough things he had to consider.

So in the end, he extended his hand to the snake. _"Wanna come inside with me? I can't imagine that you like the heat..."_

He didn't know why exactly he had offered. Probably because even a snake was better company than no one.

But in the end, this decision would change his life forever, even if he didn't know that yet, as he took the snake and snuck back to his room...

* * *

**Soo... this is my first multichaptered fanfiction I ever published! Yay!**

**I hope you liked the beginning, even though Tom wasn't seen anywhere. You'll probably have to wait a bit longer for him to show up, but don't worry, I didn't write TMRxHP in the summary for nothing. (Yes people who didn't read the summary, this story WILL contain Slash, as in male x male content. If you dislike that, please stop reading this story now)  
**

**Other than that: If anyone who liked this chapter wants to be my beta reader, I'd be very grateful! Right now I am my own beta, and since English isn't my mother tongue there might be a few mistakes left...  
**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and whoever else has any rights... I only know it's not me.  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**

**Edit, concerning the 'I can't imagine you like the heat'-sentence:  
After a few reviews from different people, claiming that snakes like the heat which makes Harrys reasoning confusing.  
To clear it up: Yes, snakes _do_ like the heat, but too much heat isn't good for them either. And a hot summer day in Great Britain might actually be too hot for a snake to feel comfortable. (Harrys room isn't the coolest anyway, so the snake will still have warmth).  
And people who may or may not know more about snakes than I do (I did use Google since I don't own a snake myself) and still don't think it's enough: Harry has no idea about reptiles and their like or dislike for certain temperatures. And the snake told him it would protect him. So it shouldn't be all too strange if it does follow him, even though it might not have been the heat at all.I hope that was enough to clear up that it was not a mistake due to me being too lazy to research or anything, though it might seem so at first. ;)  
**


	2. Thoughts and Hunches

**Chapter 2: Thoughts and Hunches**

After that quite unusual meeting the following days and weeks were even stranger. Sure, still no helpful letters from his friends - though Hermione seemed to have understood that he didn't like being purposefully left out of the loop and had started writing about other stuff - and no news about Voldemort anywhere.

But at least he was beginning to form some sort of friendship with the little snake. Since there wasn't much to do these days he spent a lot of time upstairs inside of his room, where he began to simply talk with his new found companion, so that they could get to know each other.

The snake was a female one and though she couldn't tell him her species she knew that she was quite poisonous and that her mother was a really big snake. She also knew that she had no name - since snakes normally didn't need one - so Harry spent quite a bit of his time reading to find something suitable. And for once he was glad that there was a bookshelf with a few unused muggle books in his room, which had originally been Dudleys room for broken toys.

In the end they decided on 'Shiva', a name he had found in an old book about different religions. He had no idea why the hell the Dursleys had something like this but at least he knew why it stood here, unused, instead of in the living room, where his relatives tended to place everything of value to impress their visitors.

Anyway, since he had a surprising amount of free-time, Shiva convinced him to do some reading and start his schoolwork early. Normally he tended to forget about it during the summer, having to rush through everything the last few days before school started again, but the snake was quite insistent that he could work now as he was bored anyway.

She seemed to have an unusual amount of knowledge about human stuff too, like which of his schoolbooks he should consult if he didn't understand something. It was really quite easy to forget that she was just a snake.

What surprised him even more was the fact that, after a few hours of moaning about it, he found his schoolwork actually not very hard at all and kind of interesting, if he took his time instead of hurrying through it like he had done all the years before.

Since Ron had been his first friend he had always tried to be like him, he had been his role model. But now, without the redhead to distract him with games or talks of Quidditch, he found the wonders of magic so much more appealing! Sure, he was only able to do theoretical work, since he was still underage, but before, he had seen schoolwork as a burden. Right now it seemed more like a chance. Not only helped it ceasing his boredom _and_ took his mind off of Voldemort and whatever he was doing right now, he also began to understand some of the theory behind his classes, like Charms or Transfiguration. When once he had struggled with the spellwork itself, memorising the theory only for the exams and forgetting about it soon afterwards, he now _understood_ what McGonagall and Flitwick had tried to teach them. It was quite strange, but at the same time he felt like he had finally accomplished something on his own. No one had been telling him that he had to learn that - well, except for Shiva, maybe, but she was mostly suggesting things, not ordering him around - or talked about it being great until Harry himself had believed it.

No, it was his own little achievement and he would keep it to himself for now. Let his so called best friends be surprised that even at his personal hellhole and without their help he could achieve something.

ooo

Many more days came and went as he concentrated on studying, wanting to prove himself. Including his birthday. He had almost forgotten, since there were so many books to read - starting with his first year books, he had been such a lazy student! - but as he heard the owls he remembered.

He was still a bit miffed about his best friends, even though their letters were friendly and Hermione even hinted that they might meet up soon, but he hid their boxes of Honeydukes chocolate under the floor just like last summer anyway, since he knew Dudley - and with him, everyone else in this household - was still on his so called diet.

He knew that if he hadn't been able to vent his frustration while studying, or sometimes even voicing them to Shiva, he probably would have been really angry at them by now, but... that way, he was only frustrated, remembering the last time they left, at the beginning of last years triwizard tournament. Of course, he had forgiven Ron his ignorance long ago, but if they continued like that... he wasn't sure. But for now, he put that thought out of his head and went through the other letters he got.

One was from Hagrid - Harry recognised his messy scrawl before he even read the card - and had a box full of rock cakes attached to it. He put them aside, knowing he'd not eat a single one of them, but cherishing the thought.

Another one was from Sirius and was delivered together with a small cake that was self-made if he could believe his godfather and quite good if he could believe his taste buds. He had also gotten a copy of Kennilworthy Whisps _He Flew Like a Madman_, which was a biography of some known Quidditch player called Dai Llewellyn. Harry decided he'd add it to his mental list of books he wanted to read before the end of the holidays.

The last letter was the most confusing though. He didn't recognise the bird, which was a dark brown eagle owl that flew off the second he took it's letter, and the writing was only vaguely familiar.

_Harry,  
Happy Birthday.  
Take care._

No signature or anything. Frowning confused, he stroke Shivas head, since she rested next to him right now, lying comfortably on his bed. Was that some kind of warning? But who had sent it? He knew that Dumbledore liked to leave his messages unsigned, but that didn't seem likely here, he was pretty sure the handwriting of his headmaster looked different.

Actually, he kind of hoped that this wasn't Dumbledores doing, because the man should know all too well that he was not having a _happy_ birthday being cooped up at his relatives home while his friends were doing whatever... wherever!

He sighed slightly, before writing clipped thank you notes for Ron and Hermione and slightly longer ones for Hagrid and Sirius.

After all of the owls were finally out again, he continued reading, while carefully trying to simultaneously eat some more of Sirius' cake. It may not have been his best birthday, but it also wasn't the worst by far.

ooo

He continued his little reading marathon for another day and a half, before he finally decided that he needed to get out again. Sure, he went out every few days to let Shiva hunt for food, but most of that time was spent waiting near the Dursleys front garden since the snake was quite fast. Which actually was great, because he really didn't want to imagine what his aunt would say if she knew that he kept a living snake near her 'ickle Diddykins'.

But that wasn't important right now. Shiva was hidden beneath his clothes - for once he was glad that he had to wear Dudleys old clothes where three Harrys would've fitted in fine - and he began walking aimlessly around, away from Privet Drive, across Magnolia Crescent and down Magnolia Road. He had no destination in mind, but he didn't care very much. It was only evening, more than enough time for a little walk.

After a while he arrived at a small park where he made a beeline for the nearest bench and plopped down on it. Almost instantly Shiva wriggled out of his shirt and placed herself next to him, on the warm wood of the bench. It had cooled down now compared to the midday heat, but it was still pretty warm outside. Warm enough that the snake hissed contently the second she stopped moving.

ooo

For a while, no one said anything. Harry found that he actually liked the peace out here, where the only noise came from the wind that blew through the nearby trees. He had no idea why no one else seemed to think that this park was a great place to be at this time of the day, but he didn't care all that much. At least he wasn't stared at and called freak behind his back, as most of Little Whinging seemed to think he was some kind of insane brute who went to St Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.

He guessed that the Dursleys were the ones that started spreading this rumour, for them it probably seemed to be the better alternative to anyone finding out that Harry actually went to a _magical_ school.

Oh well, twenty-nine days and he'd sit in the Hogwarts Express again. He'd live.

A few more minutes came and went in silence, before Shiva started speaking up for the first time since they had left the house.

_"Say, master..."_ she began and Harry grimaced slightly at the display of her newest nickname. He had tried to get her to call him Harry, but she never did. At first it had been 'speaker' and now she had begun with that 'master' thing... _"Why do you still trust that Dumbledore man?"_

_"Huh?"_ He blinked, confused. Where had that come from? Sure, after the initial distrust and quite a few times where he had followed her while she went hunting - to make sure she really wasn't spying on him and using her need for food as an excuse to report back - he had begun telling her bits and pieces from his life, about his adventures while at Hogwarts and the people he had met. It was mostly for himself, to get some of his worries off his chest, but she always listened patiently. He just hadn't expected her to comment on it.

_"Well... after all you told me, he does not seem like a trustworthy man."_

Harry frowned. _"What do you mean?"_

_"I have been thinking... you said this Voldemort human lived at the back of a teachers head in your first year?" _He nodded. _"How could _no one_ notice that? And the chamber of secrets? You said it had been opened before, fifty years ago. And Dumbledore had still no clue at all how to find it? And don't get me started on that Tournament thing. I cannot believe they let you participate even though you were still a fledgling!"_ She was getting quite irate now, seeing that her hisses got more and more aggressive.

Stroking her scaly body, he tried to calm her down, even though he was not only surprised at her way of expressing what had happened - he had never thought of it that way - but also touched that she seemed to get angry on his behalf.

_"But Dumbledore wants to protect me,"_ he tried convincing her half-heartedly. Honestly? He was still quite angry with his headmaster himself, seeing that there seemed to be no problem in getting Ron and Hermione to spend their holidays together but he was still... well, here.

_"I do not think that sending you back to your relatives is a suitable form of protection. It might be safe against the Dark, but you told me Hogwarts is the safest building, so why aren't you allowed to stay there? I have seen the humans you stay with. They reek of disgust when you are near."_

His eyes widened. She was right! Everyone always told him that Hogwarts was the safest place in the world, but he still wasn't allowed to stay, even if the darkest wizard alive seemed to be after him...

He sat very still for a while, mulling over the conversation. If he looked at the situation this way what did that mean for the headmasters motives? Why keep him miserable when there were other, safer possibilities?

ooo

He was pulled out of his musings as Shivas head shot up.

_"What's wrong?" _he asked, worried about the sudden movement.

_"I sense something... we need to go!"_ Without losing a second, she slipped back under his top while he stood up, slightly confused. _"Uh... what? Why?"_

_"I'll tell you later, now go!"_

Still confused, but also on alert, he hurried back to his relatives house. And he was quite glad that he did. The second he turned into Privet Drive he felt something too. He couldn't really place it, but it seemed dangerous... and the fact that the night suddenly became a whole lot darker and colder didn't make it better.

He walked even faster, almost running the last feet to number four, but the second he stepped into the house, everything stopped. The presence vanished completely, leaving him warm again as if nothing had ever happened. But as he turned around he could still _see_ the unnatural darkness.

What the hell was going on...?

* * *

**Firstly: Thanks for all the Reviews, Favs and Follows! I didn't think so many people would like reading my story, I hope I won't disappoint you :)  
**

**Part of the plot is beginning to show now, though the way it is developing right now, I fear it will need more chapters for Tom to show up then I previously thought.  
But well, can't make it too easy for them, can I?  
**

**If you find any mistakes, please point them out to me, I'm still mostly my own beta.  
(And free virtual cookies for everyone that can guess what the darkness might mean *cough*probably obvious anyway*cough*)  
**

**Harry Potter still belongs to J.K. Rowling and not me.  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	3. Worries

**Chapter 3: Worries**

In the end, Harry opted to observe the unnatural darkness from a distance. He knew that there were some protections in place, something about the sacrifice of his mother, so he guessed that he would be safe inside the house.

That didn't mean that he wasn't curious though, so he sat next to his window, looking out at the way too dark street, wand in hand, Shiva on his shoulders.

_"What is that stuff?"_ he wondered aloud, while observing that the darkness seemed to blur at the ends. Behind it, the normal night seemed bright if compared to the mist.

_"I do not know. But it smells of fear."_

Harry frowned as an idea formed inside of his head... but it couldn't be right. That simply wasn't possible... was it? But then, he saw evidence that prove his theory.

He saw black cloaks.

Sure, in the wizarding world black cloaks weren't exactly uncommon, as almost every wizard wore robes and black was the most common colour, but... down there were no wizards.

There were Dementors.

His eyes widened and he heard Shiva hissing sharply as she saw them too. Dementors? In Little Whinging? How was that possible, he was sure these creatures stood under the control of the Ministry...! And surely no Ministry member would-

He stopped, suddenly remembering something. He still received the Daily Prophet every morning and while he once had only looked at the headlines for news of Voldemort, he had started reading the newspaper more precisely lately, after a suggestion of Shiva. After all it was his only source on what was going on in the wizarding world as long as he had to stay here.

And while most of the stuff was rubbish he remembered reading several small comments about himself, being the laughingstock of the nation once more. Because he told them the truth.

But of course, people were like that. It didn't matter how often he saved their behinds, they'd always turn against him if he said or did something they didn't like. They were just as bad as the Hogwarts students...

Anyway, right now a lot of people hated him, so... maybe it wasn't all that strange for Dementors to appear here?

He watched as they glided up and down the street, before taking the path down Magnolia Crescent. Dammit, he had never been so glad to take up advice from a snake. Though he knew by now that Shiva was no ordinary snake.

ooo

After the Dementors were gone for a few minutes, he relaxed a bit and went to get one of his books. He didn't trust the silence enough to go back to normal just yet, but he could just as well read while occasionally watching the now empty streets.

He had about fifteen minutes of peace before something happened again. He noticed movements from the corner of his eye and as he looked up, he saw an owl flying hurriedly in his direction. Confused, he opened his window and the bird bolted inside, before almost collapsing on his floor, an action that made Hedwig - who, for once, sat happily in her cage, dozing - give off a disgruntled hoot.

He carefully took the letter from the exhausted animal and began to read.

_Harry,  
Please tell me you're alright!  
I overheard something about Dementors in Little Whinging, was that true? Did you meet them?  
Whatever you do, stay inside, don't leave the house!  
Sirius_

He frowned. News certainly travelled fast. He had no idea where his godfather was - though he had a feeling it had something to do with wherever Ron and Hermione stayed, seeing that Sirius' letters weren't all that informative either - but how that place had gotten the news so quickly... it was beyond him.

He was the only wizard in Little Whinging after all... wasn't he?

Stopping that train of thought, he managed to write a short answer note, telling Sirius that he was fine and wouldn't go outside. He then let the owl recover a little bit longer before sending it off again. For a second he had wondered if he should ask how the hell the story had gotten to whomever his godfather had overheard, but seeing that news were so rare these days he probably wouldn't have gotten an answer anyway.

He went back to his book instead - _Intermediate Transfiguration_, he was slowly catching up - and got quite absorbed in it again, forgetting the time and everything around him for a while, before he heard another owl. Guessing that it had to be one of his friends, or maybe even Sirius again, he let it in without taking his eyes off the book, since he was at a quite interesting part right now.

Only an impatient hoot brought him out of his little trance and he looked up in surprise as he recognised the bird being the eagle owl from his birthday. He took it's letter and it set off once again without giving him a chance to read the parchment first, much less writing a reply.

_Harry,  
Do not worry, the person who sent the Dementors will not bother you again._

News _did_ travel fast, then... he wondered if this mysterious writer was with Sirius, though on the other hand, if Sirius was still worried they might not have the same source of information...

He shook his head. It probably wouldn't do to keep wondering, he'd figure it out sooner or later. For now he should better concentrate, Transfiguration was a complicated subject and he wasn't able to test any of the theoretical knowledge...

ooo

What followed were another two weeks of waiting. The only news he got were about Mrs. Figg - an old lady that had always been his babysitter when the Dursleys went somewhere before he got to Hogwarts - who had been found lying on one of the streets between her house and Privet Drive the day he had seen the Dementors. The muggles had hurried to place her into a hospital, saying she seemed to be in some kind of coma, but Harry had a distinct feeling that she wouldn't wake up ever again, as her body couldn't work without a soul...

He actually nicked a candle from his relatives to mourn for a few minutes, knowing in his gut that the arrival of the Dementors had somehow been his fault.

On a happier note - more or less - Sirius wrote another letter, in which he said something about _someone_ being uncharacteristically stubborn about insisting that Harry stayed with his relatives as long as possible and that he was working on it, but after that, no other letter made his way to Harry.

It annoyed him quite a bit but Shiva always managed to calm him down, suggesting other things Harry might want to read. At least he had had more than enough time to finish all the books on his list. He had even read _Hogwarts: __A History_ now (Hermione would be proud!), after which he had moved on to some other books he found in his trunk, that weren't terribly interesting but also not too boring. He really needed to pay Flourish and Blotts a visit... if the book list for school would arrive in time and he wasn't left here to rot of course.

ooo

But then, one evening - the Dursleys were gone to some kind of Lawn Competition - Shiva noted that she smelled people. Harry closed the book he had just been reading and drew his wand, asking her what kind of people she smelled. It couldn't have been the Dursleys, since their departure had not been too long ago, but he had no idea who else to expect.

_"I... I smell wolf... and dog. But they are humans,"_ she said, after a short, startled silence and Harry smiled. There was only one duo that matched this description.

Wand still in hand - no need to get careless now - and Shiva once more under his shirt he made his way downstairs. And as he got closer to the living room, he began to hear voices.

"Look at all this stuff! Who needs so many photos of some fat kid?"

"Sirius, hush! We don't want to seem like burglars!"

"Come on Moony, nothing a small Obliviate wouldn't cure."

Harrys smile broadened as he stepped into the room, watching as his godfather looked at the different photos of Dudley with disgust, while Remus Lupin - his Defence against the Dark Arts teacher in his third year - observed Sirius with mild interest. Both actually looked better than the last time he had seen them, but that probably didn't mean much, since they had both been in bad shape then.

"Don't curse the neighbours, please."

As both men whirled around he couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Not only at the situation, but he also remembered that these words had probably been the first English ones he had used since he had met Shiva a month ago.

"Harry!" His godfather grinned and wanted to walk to him, but Lupin held him back.

"Please, Sirius, remember what Mad-Eye said."

"Yes, yes... then hurry up!"

Harry had watched this little exchange of words slightly confused. Mad-Eye? As in, Mad-Eye Moody? The man he had thought his teacher last year until he had found out that it had actually been Barty Crouch Junior, a Death Eater who had disguised himself as the auror?

Lupin nodded shortly and looked at Harry. "What form does your Patronus take?"

He frowned. "A stag."

The werewolf nodded and his features softened, before he looked at Sirius again. "That's him."

And suddenly Harry found himself in a big hug that made Shiva almost lose her grip on him.

"Dang, I've missed you, pup!"

And he felt what was probably the biggest grin since forever on his face. "I've missed you too."

They stayed like this for a few more moments, before Lupin cleared his throat and Sirius let him go.

Harry nodded in greetings to the other man. "Professor Lupin."

Lupin smiled. "Please Harry, the days I taught you are long over. Call me Remus."

Harry nodded again, smiling himself, before he got serious again, deciding to get to the point of that surprising visit.

"So... I'm finally allowed to leave, then?" He raised an eyebrow as he got two short nods. "Great... about time."

"Sorry pup, I would've gotten you out of here earlier but, you know... wasn't allowed to and everything," Sirius grumbled before rolling his eyes and muttering something about old men and their sense of safety.

"Anyway, how about we get you packed?" Remus interjected the other mans mumbling. "Thankfully, we were able to convince Mad-Eye that Side-Along Apparition would be much safer for you than flying on brooms. Though not nearly as fun, I fear. But this way, Sirius was able to come."

Harry frowned. "Where are you staying anyway? I didn't know that you were living somewhere together?" he asked confused, but Remus shushed him.

"We will tell you once we've arrived at our destination. Sorry, but these are the safety measures we had to agree on before we were allowed to get you," he explained, though looking not too excited about it himself.

He probably didn't want to know who had set these safety measures...

ooo

A few minutes later all of them stood just outside of the house, next to Harrys trunk that was packed and closed now. Hedwigs cage was empty, since she was out hunting again, but she always knew where to find him so he wasn't too worried.

Instead, he watched as Sirius took the trunk and Remus the cage, before the former extended an arm to his godson.

"Hold on tight, you hear? We don't want you to fall off early or anything."

Harry nodded and did as he was told, wondering how apparition would feel.

The next thing he felt was Sirius turning on the spot and then he knew _exactly_ how apparition felt.

One word? Awful. It was as if he had been compressed and sent through some kind of black tunnel way too small for him, before coming out and taking on his normal shape again.

He gasped for breath as the sensation was over and heard Sirius chuckle next to him.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," he said after a while, still holding Harrys arm - thankfully, he didn't knew if his legs would've supported him completely.

_"_That_ is one of the worst things you humans ever came up with!"_

He blinked at the hissed words, before his eyes widened as Shiva stuck her head out of his shirt. How could he forget his not so little snake friend?

_"Yeah, you're probably right..."_ he answered, shuddering slightly at the memory, before looking up and seeing the surprised glances of the two older wizards.

"Harry?" Sirius asked frowning, before shaking his head in a 'I should have known' way. "Trust you to acquire a pet snake while staying a month with your horrible relatives. Because anything else was too boring, huh?"

Today just seemed full of surprises.

* * *

**Already over 100 Followers and 50 Favos? Thanks guys! I really appreciate it!  
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**Also thanks for all the reviews! It always makes me grin when I see a new one, so happy~! (And of course, virtual cookies for ashtree22, Fae0306 and Stardust of Orion for correctly guessing the Dementors *gives out the cookies* :3)  
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**So... the first appearance of Sirius and Remus and the first real change of scenery. Hope you liked it and it didn't feel too rushed.  
**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling etc.  
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**Happy/Merry Christmas (depending on where you live ;p), Violet-san**


	4. Dumbledores Fanclub

**Chapter 4: Dumbledores Fanclub**

There was another surprise waiting for Harry.

After recovering from the shock that a Gryffindor student had actually a pet snake, Remus gave him some strange piece of parchment where only the address of some 'Order of the Phoenix' was written on, telling him to think about it. Confused, he looked up, just in time to see buildings with numbers eleven and thirteen move sideways to reveal a number twelve. 'Grimmauld Place Number Twelve' if he was guessing correctly.

Sirius grimaced as Harrys eyes widened, indicating that he could see the house now, too.

"Welcome to my humble home..." he muttered, not looking very enthusiastic. "Be sure to stay quiet in the entrance hall, I'll explain the rest once we're inside."

Harry nodded slowly, before crossing the street to get to the house - Remus going first, Sirius last - already wondering about the 'home' part his godfather just mentioned.

The entrance hall was quiet and dark and gave him the chills, even after one of the men turned on the lights with a flick of his wand. Even Shiva hissed something under her breath, but it was too quiet for him to hear, he just felt her vanishing back under his shirt.

Which turned out to be almost perfect timing, as a nearby door opened only seconds later, revealing a smiling Molly Weasley.

ooo

A rather... enthusiastic greeting was followed by a wonderful dinner, courtesy of Mrs. Weasley, though Harry ate only with Sirius and Remus, since it was quite late and the others had already finished and went off to somewhere else.

But he was fine with it, at least he _finally_ understood some things about who 'the others' where and what was going on.

It turned out that this house belonged to the Black family and since Sirius was their only heir, it was now all his, even though he had never really liked his family and had always tried to be the complete opposite of them. Also, the house had been empty for about ten years, except for Kreacher - who was a slightly barmy house elf - and a portrait of Sirius' mother that screamed insults at everyone she deemed unworthy.

So the main job of everyone living here was cleaning everything, with the house elf stealing the darker artefacts to hide them. Great.

Additionally, this house was headquarters to that 'Order of the Phoenix', a defensive organisation Dumbledore had put up against Voldemort, which was adults only, Mrs. Weasley had explained, as Fred and George seemingly wanted to help but weren't allowed to since they were still students.

Not that Harry would've wanted to join. In the last few weeks he came to terms with himself a little bit better and had decided for a few things.

He would continue studying, learning more about magic itself and expanding his repertoire of useful spells.

He would _not_ try to fight Voldemort himself. Sure, he didn't want to put others into dangers just because of him, but they were all adults, as Mrs. Weasley had explained just now. They should be able to make their own decisions, right? Also, the way he was now he was sure he had no chance at all against the dark wizard, so why should he try to get himself killed?

And of course, he would not follow Dumbledores orders blindly any longer. That man was brilliant, yes, but after that talk with Shiva so many days ago, he began doubting that his headmaster did everything he did out of goodwill. And he refused to let himself be used by anyone!

But for now, he'd wait and observe. See if his theories were proven to be correct or not. He had been forced to learn being quite patient over the last month, waiting for any useful letter to arrive, so he could just as well put that skill into use.

Back to the three adults in the kitchen. Except for that titbit of information about the order he only gathered that Voldemort seemed to lay low as of now, since there had been no surprising deaths of anyone as far as anyone knew.

Oh, and - on a side note - he got that the whole Weasley family was living here for now, just like Hermione, helping with the cleaning. Which actually almost acted like the cue to go upstairs and meet them.

He wasn't all too happy about it, but Sirius told him he'd give him a tour through the house afterwards, he just needed to finish something else first.

So Harry had just shrugged and went upstairs, following the directions of Mrs. Weasley until he stood at the second floor in front of the first door on the right.

Mentally bracing himself, he turned the knob - ironically it was formed just like a snake - and opened the door before stepping into the room.

He now had about two seconds - in which he took a look around the poorly furnished room that seemed quite dark and only had two not very comfortable looking beds - before he heard a slight squeal and found his vision full off... hair.

"Harry!" Hermione half-screamed, hugging him tightly, though thankfully with her arms above the area where Shiva rested. He really didn't want to explain his snake again today. "You're here! We were so happy that Dumbledore finally allowed someone to get you! All that time I feared that he wouldn't and I'm _so sorry_ that I couldn't write you anything useful. I know it must've sucked to be so uninformed but we couldn't get any important information passed on to you, even though we tried and-"

"Hermione, breathe," said Ron as he walked to stand next to her. "Let the poor guy arrive properly first." He then looked to Harry, grinning. "Great to have you here, mate."

Hermione pulled him inside and closed the door, before finally letting him go. Now it was his turn to look at both of his friends, while still thinking about what Hermione said.

"What do yo mean you _couldn't_ get any information passed on to me? I sent Hedwig straight to you, where was the problem in sneaking something to me?"

Hermione fidgeted, clearly not sure if she should tell him, but Ron beat her to it anyway.

"It was Dumbledores idea of safety measures," he grumbled, not looking all too happy about it. "He has this weird protection charm placed around the house, disabling owls with letters to fly out of it. Only he himself, Moody, Kingsley - who is an auror by the way - and Mum can lift it temporarily. And he didn't want us to tell you anything, Moody is the most paranoid man I've ever seen anyway and Kingsley and Mum trust Dumbledores safety measures completely. They scanned our letters for order information first."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Why does Dumbledore think I need to be kept in the dark? Of course, letters can be intercepted, but there are enough safety measures one can take so that I'd get at least informed enough to not feel as out of the loop as I do now."

"I don't know," Hermione confessed and Ron shrugged.

"That's Dumbledore for you. The man is just full of secrets..."

Harry snorted. "_That_ he is. Manipulative old bastard."

Hermiones eyes went wide. "_Harry_! Don't talk like that about our headmaster!"

But Harry didn't feel inclined to listen to her.

"Well, I'm _sorry_ to be angry at the one person that could make my life less miserable by various means but isn't doing a thing to help me! And don't try telling me he just wants to keep me safe!" he snarled as Hermione opened her mouth, probably to say just that. She shut it again and he continued. "Honestly, he keeps telling me I should go back to the Dursleys because I'm _protected_ there. But if I hadn't been inside as the Dementors showed up, what do you think would have happened? After all, I'm not allowed to perform magic outside of school, especially not near muggles. I don't think the Ministry would have been very happy. Or even believe me that there were bloody _Dementors_ roaming the streets of a muggle village so far from Azkaban."

By now, both of his friends looked at him pretty stunned, but didn't argue. Probably because what he said was true, the Ministry really wouldn't believe him. After all, right now he only was "The Boy who lied a lot" to the readers of the Daily Prophet.

But he still went on, explaining to them what Shiva had explained to him, how many inconsistencies surrounded the headmaster and his actions concerning Harry and his safety.

He didn't know why he was telling them as he really didn't want Dumbledore to know what he thought, but he guessed that he probably just wanted them to understand. They _were_ his friends after all.

ooo

He actually needed quite a while to get them to understand what he was suggesting. He didn't _hate_ Dumbledore or anything, he was just... wary now that he looked at some things differently. He didn't want to assume that the man had manipulated him all these years to actually confront Voldemort, but he had no other explanation which made him feel sick and even more inclined to mistrust his headmaster.

He also made them swear not to tell anyone about all this, especially Hermione, since she sometimes seemed under the impression that it was alright to tell other peoples secrets if she thought it would help them. And it wouldn't, not this time.

After that, the conversation went to more pleasant things, like a few funny situations that happened while cleaning the house or the newest pranks Fred and George had pulled. It actually wasn't all that bad and after a while they were even joined by Ginny and the twins, who had gotten bored and had decided to visit Ron and Hermione, not expecting Harry to be with them. Not that it was a bad thing. Only... interesting, just like the fact that the twins where quite happy with their new apparition license and that they were of age now and could perform magic everywhere.

It ended up being quite a nice time and they were all laughing about some joke of the twins as Sirius came up, knocking at the door before taking Harry on a tour through the house, which turned out to be pretty interesting, too.

The Black house was - of course - bigger than it had looked form the outside, with many rooms. Most of them were bedrooms - or at least used as bedrooms right now - and accommodated the whole Weasley family, Hermione, Sirius and Remus. The rest of the order tended to visit, but never stayed long.

Other rooms were the kitchen, quite a few bathrooms, a drawing room and they even had a gallery of ancestral portraits of various Black family members. Sirius didn't seem very enthusiastic to visit it. He did show Harry a tapestry with the Black family tree though.

It was quite fascinating to see how many pureblood families actually were related to each other and that Sirius was some distant cousin to the Malfoys, the Longbottoms and even the Weasleys and the Potters!

"That happens if pureblood parents want their children to only marry other purebloods," Sirius had grumbled, seemingly not very happy about having to look at his family tree. He had told Harry before that he had run away with sixteen, which resulted in him being blasted of said tree just like many other family members that didn't fit into the standards. Though the 'standards' were quite... unusual in Harrys opinion, if people like Araminta Meliflua stayed, who tried to make hunting Muggles legal.

His godfather shook his head, staring out of one of the misty windows that didn't really help chasing the darkness of the house away.

"I hate being coped up here, you know?" he mumbled, quiet enough so that his voice wasn't heard through the closed door of the drawing room.

Harry frowned. "Coped up?"

"Well... most of the world is still seeing me as some kind of mass murderer, the wizarding part believing I'm a Death Eater par excellence, right? And this house... well, I guess it's one of the safest places in Britain right now, Orion Black - my father - was quite insistent on that back when he was still alive. He put up all the safety measurements he could - which were probably all that existed, he was quite good with his spellwork - and Dumbledore added even more protections, like the Fidelius charm," Sirius explained grimly. "So he told me to stay put, since it was the only safe place for me as Voldemort probably knows my animagus form by now."

And there was Dumbledore again, meddling in the lives of other people...!

Harry sighed frustrated. "And you never once thought about just ignoring these orders and going on a walk or anything? Even _if_ Voldemort knows your animagus form, why should he come after you? Just because you're on the light side? Also, you're a grown man, you shouldn't have to listen to anyone. Honestly, it's almost like some kind of fanclub, why does everyone believes whatever Dumbledore wants? You're adults, you can decide for yourself!"

Sirius stared at him, surprise showing on his face. "Since when are you that critical pup? Though... I never looked at it this way before... I've always taken Dumbledores word for it, especially so since Molly always backs him up and you know how she can be. You won't believe how long Remus and I had to work until we finally got them convinced that it was a stupid idea to let you fly all the way here if Side-Along-Apparition was not only faster but also safer as it can't be tracked..." He sighed. "Though I wouldn't even know what to do outside, it's not as if I can go anywhere without being recognised."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I really don't think this involuntary stay has done you good. Where is the problem in throwing up a few glamour charms and blending into the crowd? Sure, it wouldn't be safe to do that among wizards - and I would advise you to not do that, I _do_ like you alive and well! - but muggles won't notice a thing. And even if it's only for a few hours... it would do you good, I'm sure of it."

Sirius groaned. "Why didn't I think of that before? But dammit, pup, since when do _you_ know about glamours? I thought that would be more Hermiones cup of tea."

"Well, excuse me, I was bored this summer! The only remotely interesting things were my schoolbooks," Harry grumbled, but didn't take it as an insult. It _was_ strange for him, he couldn't blame anyone for being surprised.

His godfather chuckled. "Ah well, so you've developed a liking for books, can't blame you. Guess it's been the same for me. Sure, the cleaning is well and good sometimes, but I think Molly's overreacting a bit. As long as the rooms we're using are clean, everything's good, right? But she wants the whole house cleaned up. So when I'm feeling fed up with it I'm using the family library for a good read."

He smirked as Harrys eyes went wide. "Yes, there is a library in the house," he answered the unspoken question. "Sure, there are quite a few dark books inside, can't help that with a family like mine, but I've also found some real treasures, which are almost unique since most other copies have been destroyed. And the best thing is probably that it's hidden. The only ones who know about it right now, except for me, are Remus, Hermione and now you. Oh, and Kreacher of course, it has been Regulus' favourite room so that little bugger knows the location. At least he has kept it surprisingly clean, unlike the rest of the house."

"Ah, about Kreacher..." Harry started, having remembered something he had wanted to tell his godfather the second he had seen the house elf muttering under his breath for the first time. "I know he probably reminds you of your family, but I'd suggest that you at least try to be slightly nicer to him. I've only heard you talk about him badly, but really, maybe being nice helps. Just a suggestion."

Sirius frowned and Harry shrugged. He didn't think that he man would do that overnight, but maybe he'd think about it.

"Soo... what about that library?" he asked, changing the subject and smiling at Sirius' relieved look.

"Come on, I'll show you."

* * *

**Thanks again for all the reviews, favourites and so on...! I love all of them!**

**So... now the Grimmauld Place part began... and it will still need quite a few more chapters before they can go to Hogwarts, but there are so many things to do~  
**

**Hope you liked the little talk with Sirius and of course the reunion of the 'Golden Trio'. I've not yet decided if Ron and Hermione should go dark too, but I've a few ideas for them in mind.  
**

**Harry Potter still belongs to J.K. Rowling, who isn't me.  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	5. Old and New

**Chapter 5: Old and new**

_He snapped his eyes open as he heard the sound of a bell ringing._

_"Finally..." he whispered under his breath, before reaching for his wand and vanishing the bell with a flick. He then slowly stood and climbed out of the big tub he had sat in for the last hours. The water had an unnatural white colouring but he only glanced at it shortly before conjuring a black robe for himself._

_"Libby!" he called, waiting for the faint _plop_ to announce the house elfs arrival before continuing. "Bring Lucius to the parlour and tell him to wait!"_

_"Of course master, Libby will do as ordered."_

_With that, the creature vanished again and he waved his wand once more to conjure a mirror that was big enough to fully look at himself._

_Clad in his dark robes stood a man, tall and handsome, with pale skin. He had jet black hair that looked fairly normal, strongly contrasting his dark red eyes which were everything but normal._

_But if one ignored these eyes, he looked like a perfect copy of a Tom Marvolo Riddle in his twenties._

_"So it has worked," he said quietly, smirking._

_He let the mirror vanish again before he left the bathroom, making his way through a narrow hallway. Passing a few nondescript doors he finally opened one that led into a small room with large windows at the opposite wall. Only the pale light of the moon shimmered through the glass, the rest of the light in the room came from a small chandelier at the ceiling._

_A man with long, pale blond hair stared at him, wide-eyed, before hurriedly kneeling as he snapped out of his little trance._

_"My... My Lord...! So I take the ritual has been a success?" the man muttered subserviently._

_"Of course it has! Now rise and tell me of our newest plan. Do they suspect anything?" he asked, coming straight to the point. "We need to be absolutely sure, I do not want a massacre at the Ministry!"_

_"Everything goes just as you have predicted, my Lord. No one is aware of our actions and no one will be killed. We will be done before anyone notices."_

_He nodded. "Very well. Now, to my newest... pet project, I was thinking-"_

ooo

"Harry? What are you doing here?"

Harry groaned sleepily and sat up, rubbing his eyes before opening them.

"Hermione...?" he mumbled, confused. The girl stood before him, looking slightly worried and he wondered why, until he remembered where he was.

After Sirius had shown him the library, he had began to browse the shelves almost immediately, looking for some interesting books. He really had evolved into some bookworm over the summer, but oh well, he actually liked it better that way.

He had then brought his selection of interesting books to one of the tables that had been placed at one side of the room and began to immerse himself in his readings, while Shiva had come out of his shirt, resting on his shoulders instead, the way she always did while he was reading. He wondered sometimes if she was able to read, but she never commented on it and he never asked.

Anyway, because there had been so much to read he must have eventually fallen asleep here.

And really, as he looked down he could still see the copy of _What's a mudblood? Studies of Blood and Magic_ by Asterion Black he had been reading. Which was a truly mind-blowing book, even though the title suggested strong pureblood prejudices.

Thankfully he didn't drool in his sleep.

But to get back to his friend who still looked confused as to why he was here...

"I guess I've been more tired than I thought, I dozed off while reading. Wasn't that obvious?" he mumbled, shrugging, before he suddenly remembered something. He had dreamed! And not about anything, it had been some kind of vision!

His eyes widened as he tried to remember the specifics. He had seen everything from Voldemorts point of view and... He frowned. If he remembered correctly, the mirror had depicted a person that looked more like the Tom Riddle he had encountered in the chamber of secrets two years ago than like the snake-like man he had met at the Graveyard in June... had Voldemort really performed a ritual to get his old body back?

He had no idea why the dark wizard would need that, he had always guessed that being inhumane helped creating fear in his followers... And then there was that Ministry thing... He was sure the conversation between Voldemort and Malfoys father had included something about 'no deaths'. Really confusing...

"Harry!"

He blinked frowning, being torn out of his musings.

"_What_?"

"I've called your name about three times now, are you alright?" Hermione asked, her face definitely showing concern now.

"Yes, sorry..." It was probably better to keep that strange dream to himself. He was sure that Hermione would want him to tell Dumbledore, as the man was still seemingly the only wizard Voldemort seemed to fear. But... his scar hadn't even hurt, maybe it had not been a vision but some twisted dream... no need to cause panic now about such a strange thing...

She still stared at him for a second, not looking completely convinced, before changing the topic.

"So... what are you reading?"

He looked down at the book. "Right now? It's called _What's a mudblood? Studies of Blood and Magic_. Sounds like racism, I know," he added hastily as he saw Hermiones look. "but it's actually very different. It states that the term 'mudblood' hasn't always been an insult because once there had been no other term for the people we now call 'muggleborn'."

She frowned. "What do you mean? Isn't 'muggleborn' the most logical term for wizards born to muggles?"

He nodded, slowly. "That's the thing: According to this book there has never _been_ something like a 'muggleborn'!"

Hermiones eyes widened, before she looked sceptical and he continued.

"The first few chapters are just about that issue. And sure, the book is old, but everything I've read so far seems logical. Maybe the content has been forgotten - I have no idea why else no one these days seems to know about it - but it sounds probable. The key thesis is that magic cannot grow out of thin air. Because of that no wizard can actually just 'pop up' out of nowhere, meaning the magic has to be passed down by someone. The author - who is by the way some ancestor of Sirius if the name 'Asterion Black' is anything to go by - thinks, that every so called 'muggleborn' is actually a descendant of a squib! Because most pureblood families remove their squibs from their families, disowning them while they're at it, the probability of them marrying muggles and giving birth to non-magical children is very high. And all these children and their descendants carry the magic within them so that it can activate again centuries later and produce a witch or wizard, who has many generations of muggle blood within them, hence the term 'mudblood' as wizards back then referred to muggle blood as unclean blood."

By now, Hermione just stared at him, speechless.

"Sounds completely surreal, doesn't it?" he admitted and she nodded. "I still think it's possible. I mean, it seems logical that magic can't just show up without any reason, doesn't it?"

"Well... yes, but... I don't know, if that's true, why don't we learn something like that in school? I'm quite sure I've never heard of it before and I've read all of our schoolbooks and a few more. Maybe it's just an outdated theory?" she muttered hesitantly, clearly not sure if she wanted to believe him or not. It was quite different for her to believe that at least one of her parents was the descendant of some pureblood family than it was for him. The Potters had been purebloods after all...

"We still have about two weeks left before the first of September, right? And the Black library is _huge_. Let's just research a bit, I'm sure we'll find other books to disprove that theory. Or confirm it," he suggested and she nodded rather enthusiastically. Of course, she loved reading and it would make a lovely pet project to kill time for when there was nothing else to do.

In fact, she looked as if she would've liked to start reading right now, but then Harrys stomach made it clear, that he hadn't eaten since early evening of the last day.

"Oh no!" Hermione said suddenly, looking worried. "Breakfast is ready! I just wanted to get a book from here to read afterwards but forgot about it as I saw you sleeping...! We have to hurry, they'll get impatient!"

Harry was now sharing her look. If they arrived late without any reason they might get quite the scolding. Or simply no breakfast at all, Mrs. Weasley cooked a lot, but she also had quite an amount of hungry mouths to feed and her meals vanished fast.

He stood up, shaking Shiva awake - who had vanished back under his shirt as he now noticed - and Hermione went to grab her book, before they both hurried down to the kitchen hoping that they weren't too late.

ooo

As it turned out, they weren't and since some people - most notably Ron who was probably still asleep - were absent anyway there was more than enough food left for a nice, English breakfast.

Harry had a relatively calm time then, before excusing himself early, claiming he still had his summer homework to do. That got him a disapproving glance from Hermione and a stern look from Mrs. Weasley but they didn't say anything so he just left the kitchen, firmly closing the door behind him before stopping in the hallway.

_"Hey, do you need to hunt yet?"_ he hissed at Shiva, after checking that there was no one else within earshot.

_"No, I will be fine for a few more days,"_ she answered, having enough common sense to stay under his shirt for now. _"But I would like to ask why you did not introduce me to your... friends. Even the wolf-human and the dog-human do not know more about me then my existence. Isn't that very impolite?"_

He sighed. _"I know. I guess I'll properly introduce Sirius and Remus to you later, but you have to stay hidden while I'm with Ron and Hermione... especially with Ron. I fear he'll react... badly if he knows I'm with a snake. He hates your kind, you know?"_

She gave off a hiss without any specific meaning and stayed silent after that.

Harry wondered if he might have offended her or something, as she normally would've continued discussing with him, but he then knew why she was keeping silent as he heard footsteps.

Only seconds later, Ron entered the hallway, still looking half-asleep.

"Morning," Harry greeted his friend in a normal town, frowning as his only answer was a hurried "Shh!"

"What's-?" he started again but Ron clasped a hand over his mouth.

"Blimey, remember where you are!" he whispered quietly, shooting a panicked look at something behind Harry.

Who took the hand from his mouth and turned, before his own eyes widened in realisation.

Damn, he had been standing directly in front of Walburga Blacks portrait! He was really lucky that the curtains had not flown open, revealing the screaming woman behind them while he had been talking. Maybe she was asleep?

Not wanting to test his luck he hurriedly made the same excuse to Ron as he had to the others - now in hushed tones - before going back upstairs, back to the library. He collected his books and moved down another aisle, one that was filled with books about Dark Arts. He didn't want to read anything of the sort, but he knew that Hermione would not come here and discover him by chance, so that was probably the best idea if he wanted to stay alone for a bit.

He might even luck out of the whole cleaning business, since he had still 'summer homework to do'.

He sure hoped so.

* * *

**Thank you for all your feedback! Especially for your ideas and suggestions! I'll see if I'll use a few of them.  
If you have other ideas, just tell me, I'm having enough myself but another person sometimes has a different view about things that 'need' to happen then the author. ;)  
**

**This time you had a small insight in Toms minds, as well as a bit of Harry&Hermione, as well as Harry&Ron friendship... and the beginning of some (hopefully) very interesting storylines.**

**Harry Potter (still) isn't mine and so on...  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	6. Something interesting

**Chapter 6: Something interesting**

The next days were considerably quieter, except for one morning, when a young auror everyone called 'Tonks' came to visit. She had managed to fall over some troll-leg umbrella stand and awaken Walburgas portrait, that started screaming on the spot.

Harry, confused as to where the noise was coming from as he had never heard the woman scream before, had come down from the room he shared with Ron and asked Sirius what the hell was going on. But after he had shouted the question to his godfather, to be heard over all the racket, the portrait had suddenly shut up, looking surprised before its curtains had been pulled close.

No one knew why Walburga had stopped screaming that particular moment but as everyone was relieved they soon forgot about that incident, opting to tell Tonks to be more careful instead.

That day the order had held some meeting, meaning Harry saw quite a lot people coming and going from his spot inside the library as the window in the Dark Arts section was seemingly charmed to show the front door of the house and part of the street. Well, for once he was thankful for Orion Blacks paranoia.

But except for the fact that Snape seemed to be part of the order - as he could clearly see the dark figure of his potions professor entering the house - he never learned something of interest through that window.

ooo

About a week after his arrival he got another letter from the unknown person he felt he should recognise. It was the longest he had received as of yet but nonetheless very straightforward.

_Harry,  
I assume Dumbledore never told you but there is a prophecy about you and Voldemort. It was made by a seer during a job interview at the Hogs Head, shortly before you were born. I have enclosed a memory of a person you most certainly know. It contains the first part of the prophecy, the part he overheard and relayed to the Dark Lord. Maybe it will help you understand a few things, it will also stand as proof that what I tell you is correct.  
Also, keep this parchment. It is charmed to show you the whole prophecy if you speak the name of the man the memory belongs to.  
Be careful._

The memory was contained inside a slim glass vial, most likely spelled unbreakable, but it still posed a problem. To view a memory he needed a pensieve. And he was absolutely sure he could not use Dumbledores for that.

Maybe a trip to Diagon Alley would help? He wanted to pay the street a visit anyway, as soon as the book lists arrived. Though until now there had been nothing. Fred and George spread the rumour that Dumbledore was not able to find a new teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts, but he had not heard a confirmation of that yet.

He had even considered asking Sirius if the Black family had a pensieve, but then he would have needed to explain his godfather what the hell he was doing with some unknown person that kept sending him letters. And even though he was still suspicious himself he was pretty sure that a memory could not be charmed to be dangerous. It could be fake, yes, but he'd be on alert for any signs of that.

ooo

Surprisingly, the pensieve problem solved itself the day after he got the letter.

Harry sat on the windowsill of the fake window in the Black library that morning, as always, reading about blood wards, when he heard a slight _plop_. He looked up and saw Kreacher standing in front of him, looking torn.

"Kreacher...?" he asked, confused and the house elf jumped slightly.

"Kreacher is very sorry if he has interrupted Harry Potters studies," the elf mumbled, still seeming not very happy about the situation.

"It's fine, what's wrong? Did Sirius send you?" Which would be very strange, seeing that his godfather probably still hated Kreacher with a passion. Who scoffed in disgust anyway before shaking his head.

"No. Mistress Walburga sent me."

Now Harry was stumped. Walburga Black? The portrait downstairs? He knew that Kreacher still took some orders from her and was free to do so as long as they didn't go against Sirius' orders, but why would the old woman send the house elf to _him_ of all people?

"Alright, what does she want?" he asked, trying to maintain a friendly tone. Maybe Kreacher wouldn't look as unwillingly as he did now if Harry cooperated a bit.

"Mistress said she will be happy to show Harry Potter the secret room. She said he has passed her test and Kreacher is allowed to bring him there." The elf beckoned Harry to follow him and even though he had no idea what kind of test he had passed he was quite curious what secret room the other was talking about.

Kreacher led him out of his standard isle, deeper into the Dark Arts part of the library, and stopped in front of a plain wooden wall, with candleholders on every side. There were many of these walls thorough the library, so it really was nothing special.

Harry had a vague idea what might be different this time anyway and really, with a surprisingly big jump Kreacher grabbed the left candleholder, pulling it slightly to the side with his weight. It was not very noticeable and it didn't seem to change anything, but as the house elf let go he stuck his hand through the wall, just like the wall at Kings Cross. He then bowed slightly.

"This is a secret room Salazar Slytherin himself approved of. Mistress said Harry Potter is allowed to go in there now."

Harry frowned. The fact that he couldn't see behind the wall made it a great hiding place, but also a great trap.

"Kreacher can go in first if Harry Potter likes," the house elf added and Harry thought about it. He was pretty sure Sirius had ordered Kreacher to not cause trouble for anyone inside of this house. He didn't think the house elf would really lead him into some kind of trap.

"Let's go in together," he decided after a moment. It would've seemed mean to let the elf go first but he didn't want to go in there alone as he had no idea as of yet if he could open and close the passage way from inside too.

That got him a curious look of Kreacher, but he nodded and with that both of them walked through the seemingly massive wooden wall.

And the room behind was... amazing. It wasn't very big, though he could navigate through the furniture without any problems.

On the opposite wall he saw a big Slytherin banner framed right and left with the same candleholders as outside. Underneath the banner was a strange table, which had only one leg right in the middle that was shaped like a snake and a curious looking box placed on top of it.

On his left, he saw a big, cushy-looking couch - of course, it had a dark green colour - and a light grey coffee table, as well as a bookshelf with what he guessed were books about the Dark Arts next to the snake-table.

Across from that stood a small, wooden desk complete with a not very comfy looking chair and at the far end there was a simple shelf with nothing in it except for a stone basin... he blinked.

"Is that a pensieve...?" he asked, surprised as he noticed the slight silver glow that the bowl seemed to emit.

Kreacher looked up, followed his glance and nodded.

"Yes, as far as Kreacher knows. Harry Potter may use it, mistress said it is alright," he explained, but then turned to point at the box on the snake-table. "Mistress wants to give Harry Potter the content of that box. She said to open it one has to speak to it like Salazar Slytherin did."

Harry raised his eyebrow, staring back and forth between the box and the house elf. Speak to it like Slytherin did? Parseltongue? But how did Kreacher know about his ability, much less Walburga- he stopped.

Hadn't he talked to Shiva in the hallway in front of the kitchen multiple times? Maybe Walburga wasn't as deaf as everyone believed her to be even if the curtains were closed and one whispered only...

It was certainly a possibility... if she had heard him speaking Parseltongue she'd probably come to the same conclusion as everyone. That he had to be Slytherins heir. Though of course he wasn't, Voldemort was. He had proven so while opening the chamber of secrets.

He shook his head, trying to chase the dark thoughts from it, focusing back on the box. So... to open it with Parseltongue...?

_"Open,"_ he hissed, the words coming so much easier to him than a month before. He didn't even need to look at a snake anymore. Though Shiva poked her head out anyway, seemingly curious. And really, the box gave an audible click and sprung open, revealing it's content.

On a velvet cushion laid a metal bracelet, slim and decorated with small, green stones. In the middle was a slightly bigger stone with a tiny, but almost real-looking snake carved into it. It was truly a masterpiece, but Harry wasn't sure if he was a big fan of jewellery.

"That looks... incredible," he said after a while. "But why is it that protected?" No one would hide a normal bracelet in a hidden room, locked into a box that could only be opened by speaking the language of the snakes.

"Kreacher doesn't know the specifics, but mistress Walburga said it was left here by Salazar Slytherin himself. And she said that the bracelet has magic inside. It is also activated with the tongue of Salazar Slytherin and it is said to protect the wearer from all spells that would reveal their location."

Harrys eyes widened. If that was true... all the possibilities! He knew that locator spells were easy once you had some DNA of the person you searched. So if that bracelet truly worked, it would give him a great advantage if combined with the Invisibility Cloak...

Like that, he might even go out again, maybe together with Sirius!

He smiled and took the bracelet carefully out of the box, hesitating only for a second. It was very unlikely that someone had cursed it, since Slytherin seemingly wanted his heir (or someone like that) to get it and Voldemort was probably still thinking that he was the only Parselmouth alive. Even if he knew about that bracelet he probably would've ignored it.

Harry proceeded to look at it more closely, wondering if the green stones were real emeralds. Well, they certainly complimented his eyes.

While he examined the craftsmanship he thought about what kind of phrase he'd need to say to activate it. The box had had a simple 'password', maybe it was the same with the bracelet? After all there were few words he could say by accident in Parseltongue.

He tried a few things that didn't do much, but after a hissed _"Hide me"_ - something Shiva had suggested after a few amused words at his failures - it began to emit a soft glow. He probably wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't stared at the ruddy thing for the last minutes, but it made the jewels seem even more radiant and gave the silver some kind of mysterious gleam... he liked it.

A bit more of experimenting and he got that the counter-phrase was _"Show me"_, which immediately stopped the glowing.

He then finally decided to put the thing on, observing with interest, as the metal seemed to close itself around his wrist the second it had touched his skin. By now he was sure the bracelet wasn't cursed, so he analysed it calmly until he found out how to take it off again. It was a pretty simple 'mechanism' as the only thing he had to do for that was pulling at it, though he strongly suspected that it was charmed to do so only if the wearer wanted it to. It was some kind of... heirloom of Slytherin after all.

The thought actually made him feel bad for a second - he wasn't Slytherins heir, so the bracelet technically didn't belong to him - but then he thought that it was probably better for everyone if it was in his hands instead of Voldemorts. And it would be very impolite to decline a gift like that.

So instead he put it on again, activating it once more, and thanked Kreacher happily, which made the elf stare at him in wonder for a bit before bowing deeply.

They left the hidden room and Harry straightened the candleholder before asking Kreacher if he could pass his thanks to Walburga as he still had things to do.

The house elf happily complied and Harry made his way out of the library in search of Sirius. He'd told himself to enjoy the rest of his summer holidays while making his godfather leave the house at least once.

And what better way to accomplish both of it together than by going on a little walk?

* * *

**Thanks everyone for the reviews! More than fifty now! I'm so happy you all still seem to like the story and everything...!  
I'm still open to suggestions by the way, if you want something in this story just tell me, maybe it'll fit? :3 (Though I've about two chapters more written then published most of the time, so suggestions may not be implemented immediately... but if I'll use something I'll credit you~)**

**So... many of you wondered what would happen if Walburga overheard Harrys little talk with Shiva. I guess you know now ;p  
Hope it seems plausible enough. (And I'm sure you all can guess what will happen next: More Sirius!)  
**

**Harry Potter (still) belongs to JKR etc...  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	7. Time out

**Chapter 7: Time out**

To say that Sirius was happy to go outside would've probably been the understatement of the year. Harry had the growing suspicion that his godfather hadn't been outside at least since the beginning of July - not counting the little rescue from his relatives home - and that had been almost two month ago.

So he really couldn't blame him that he wanted to go out as fast as possible, though that made it a bit harder to explain that he really should apply a few glamour charms before changing into his dog form.

They then snuck out of the house, barely making it past the kitchen where their biggest worry - Mrs. Weasley - was quite often, preparing a meal. Thankfully she was too busy yelling at someone named 'Mundungus' to notice anything else, so they went unnoticed.

As the house was located in some muggle neighbourhood they had no problems as they appeared out of nothing, walking down the road to a more populated part of muggle London.

They walked for a while and Harry had fun watching Sirius, who enthusiastically chased cats and doves, ran around his godson and barked happily at some pedestrians, who jumped before abruptly crossing the street. Well, his godfather certainly wasn't a small dog.

Still, as the streets got busier - it was a warm Wednesday afternoon after all - Sirius returned to his side, walking obediently next to him for a while, as Harry took a look around.

Really, even though he was raised by muggles, since said muggles were the Dursleys he had never been able to walk through any muggle town freely and it was quite interesting. Though after four years of Hogwarts he was already sure that the non-magical part of the world held too less wonders for him to consider staying. His place was with the wizards.

It was still really nice to be able to walk through a crowd where no one stared at him. No one knew his name, his past or his parents. No one expected anything of him except behaving like a fifteen year old kid should. It wasn't so bad.

After a while he found a small café at some corner that looked nice and not too busy.

"Hey, how about a drink?" he asked, turning to Sirius who barked approvingly. They went into some dark alley where Sirius could change back, before going into that café, seating themselves at a nice, small table outside of the shop, near the street.

It was... weird, somehow, to sit with his godfather - who was thought to be a mass murderer by wizards and muggles alike - at a table, between muggles, just enjoying the good weather.

The glamour charms changed Sirius' face a bit, as well as his hair and eye colour, which was somehow irritating, but necessary for his safety, so Harry didn't comment. Instead, they struck up a conversation about this and that, catching up on the more trivial aspects of their lives while they ordered drinks and cake. Though there really weren't a lot of trivial things that happened to them, really.

They had just gotten their drinks as Sirius noticed something.

"Say, pup... since when do you wear bracelets?" he asked, frowning. Harry had decided to wear and keep it activated at all times before asking his godfather to go outside, so that he couldn't be tracked anymore by anyone, but he had thought that Sirius had noticed it before and just chose not to comment on it.

He shrugged. "I don't, not really. This one's different though. It keeps me from being tracked. Not even Voldemort should be able to find me with a spell now."

Sirius eyebrows shot up. "Where did you get something that powerful?" he asked, definitely curious now. "I'm sure you didn't wear it as Remus and I picked you up from your relatives."

"Well... that's actually quite the story..." Harry thought for a moment if it was safe to tell his godfather, before mentally slapping himself. Honestly, he needed to stop with that mistrust thing or it would get a habit. And while it wasn't such a bad habit, he really saw no reason to fear that _Sirius_ of all people would tell anyone his secrets or anything.

So he recounted what had happened earlier that day and how he had concluded that the bracelet wasn't cursed, but probably really useful.

Which ended with a frowning Sirius. "You trusted Kreacher? What if he'd led you into a trap or anything?"

Harry sighed. He knew that he could be just as stubborn as his godfather was now, but they really tried to stop that and think more logical instead. "Look, Kreacher isn't as bad as you think. Sure, he practically worships your mother and is a bit on the barmy side, but other than that, he's fine. He just always insults everyone because that's what he was taught to do. Try being nicer to him and he'll stop."

"You sure? He hates me for decades already!" Sirius mumbled, clearly not wanting to do anything about it but still at least halfway open for advice.

"Well... try giving him things he likes. You said he adored your brother, right? Just give him a bit of Regulus' old stuff you want to throw out anyway. It'd be out of the way and Kreacher would be happy. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"

His godfather grumbled something under his breath.

"Pardon?"

"I said, I'll _try_, okay? But honestly, I don't know what you see in that little bugger-"

"Sirius! No name-calling anymore, alright?" Harry tried looking reproachful, but it seemed to amuse his godfather more than anything.

"Fine, fine... man, you're worse than Moony."

Sirius leaned back at his chair, running his hand though his wrong coloured hair.

"So... how's it going with your homework?" he wondered aloud, changing the topic not so subtly and confusing Harry for a second before he remembered the excuse he'd used to escape all the cleaning frenzy. But he guessed he could be honest with his godfather once more.

"I'm actually done since mid-July. Was the first thing I did after Shiva opened my eyes."

"Shiva?" Sirius asked, frowning again.

"Ah, you met her last week, the day you brought me here," Harry explained, grinning slightly as his godfather understood.

"Your pet snake... How come you've gotten a snake anyway?"

"Well... it was some kind of fluke, actually. She kinda got lost and landed in the front yard of the Dursleys, where I found her. And since I'm able to speak Parseltongue she actually makes the best 'pet' I could get. She's quite intelligent, too."

He left out the part with Shivas mother - who he still didn't know - and that she had told him she was there to protect him. No need to make his godfather even more suspicious, seeing as it was already quite the surprise that he had nothing against the snake itself.

But that explanation seemed fine to Sirius, as he just shook his head with a smile. "Dang, you're crazy pup."

"Not as crazy as becoming an animagus to run around with a werewolf on school grounds," Harry retorted and his godfather laughed.

"Touché... So, what are you doing if not homework? Reading again?"

Harry nodded. "Quite a lot, actually. Your family library is awesome!"

"What topics?"

"Well..." There was the problem now... he wasn't exactly doing the goody two shoes reading at the moment. "This and that..."

But Sirius pressed on, probably guessing it wasn't something normal. "For example?"

"Uh... Blood magic?"

Sirius' eyes went wide. "_Harry_! That's seriously dark magic, I hope you know that?"

"Yes, I'm not stupid. I know where the books stood. But it's not as if I want to _use _that knowledge. I just want to know how Voldemort managed that resurrection ritual, maybe find a flaw or anything... I mean, my mother died while protecting me... after which even _touching me_ hurt Voldemort! Not to mention all the bloody wards around my relatives house that are the reason why I need to go back to them. I want to know _how_. That can't be a bad thing."

They looked at each other for a while, before Sirius nodded slowly. "Alright. I guess that's understandable. Just be careful. The Dark Arts are dangerous and you need powerful self-control to withstand their lure. Never let yourself get controlled by it, you hear?"

There was a glint in Sirius' eyes that showed Harry his godfather had learned that lesson himself once. Which wasn't all that surprising, considering where he grew up. He might have rebelled against his upbringing, but even Harry knew (by now) that pureblood children got special lessons before they went to Hogwarts and probably during the summer holidays, too. And if the family was as dark as the Blacks seemed... it certainly weren't only lessons in writing or pureblood traditions...

So he nodded at his godfather just once, before leading the topic to some lighter parts.

"You know, Hermione has a new pet project, too. We've found a book of one of your ancestors that was denying the existence of a 'muggleborn' and claiming every witch and wizard had to have at least a squib in the family tree."

He explained the content and Sirius looked thoughtful for a while, before shrugging.

"I guess it would be a possibility. I've never known much about heredity and stuff, but I know an easy way to test if that's correct."

Harry blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's a small ritual every pureblood child is taught. Though it's not exactly easy to execute and not very fun for the person who uses it. Because it draws blood from that person to draw a family tree with their ancestors. The more blood it gets, the more ancestors it shows. So it can be dangerous for the person if it's used for too long. And it only shows the parents of each person, no siblings or anything beyond blood relation," Sirius explained, looking thoughtful.

"So... if we'd want to prove it, Hermione could use that ritual to go back a few generations - as far as she's comfortable with - and look if there's any pureblood family we know in it?" Harry asked.

"Basically, yes. You'd need blood replenisher potions of course, for safety, and an adult wizard, if anything goes wrong."

"You would do that for us, right...?"

"...I knew you'd ask... but oh well, I've nothing better to do anyway. And I told you about it so I guess that makes you my responsibility." He smiled. "A little adventure can't hurt, right? It's not _that_ dangerous anyway..."

Harry chuckled. Yes, that was his godfather. He just hoped that Mrs. Weasley would never find out about that, she'd flip.

"Thanks, Sirius. I really hope it's worth it..."

"Never mind. And it probably will be. Even if that theory is rubbish Hermione will have quite the family tree. Or you, I guess, if she doesn't want to do it, Lily has been a muggleborn too after all. I'll just need a bit time to brew the necessary potions, so maybe we can use the weekend."

"Potions...?" Harry had do inevitably think of Snape and how he'd never help them to do anything.

As if sensing his thoughts, Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, you're not really thinking of Snivellus, are you? For your information, I have been an _auror_, pup. You need a NEWT in potions for that..."

Harry blushed slightly. "Right, Sorry..."

Thankfully the waitress finally arrived with their cakes then - apologizing that they had to wait for so long, but the cake had had to be made first - so they ate, listening to the bustling activity of the muggles around them.

Like that mother on the other side of the street who hurriedly pulled a crying kid along, clearly embarrassed by the little boy that was currently throwing a small tantrum.

Or the couple that sat at another table in the café, flirting wordlessly with each other through gestures and looks...

Yes, Harry liked that, to observe the everyday life of some muggles while eating his surprisingly delicious cake and enjoying the sun. And the fact that his godfather was with him made it even better.

Sirius seemed to think about the same, as he stretched happily, looking as if he enjoyed the weather.

"You have no idea how much I missed that..."

Harry only smiled amusedly, though already thinking about something else. He didn't really want to broach another serious subject so soon, but they had their privacy here and who knew when they could talk that freely again?

So he got serious again, looking at his godfather. "Say... how come you never did go outside? I mean, sure, Dumbledore said so and stuff, but... that can't be the only reason, can it?"

Now Sirius was looking at him too, chuckling dryly. "Believe it or not, it was the only reason." He sighed, looking at the people who went along the street. "You know, Dumbledore is a really good speaker. He knows what to say to get what he wants and how to formulate it. I don't think he outright lies to you, but he makes you think of things the way he wants you to, using the fact that you trust him for manipulating you. He told me everything I'd risk if I went outside. About how you'd be without me again if I got caught and everything. Of course, he masked it as being concerned - and maybe he really was - but he told me these facts as if there was no other option. And I believed him. He had me completely convinced that there was nothing I could do. That's just the way Dumbledore is."

Harry stared at his godfather, surprised. Of course, his logic was flawless and it mostly equalled his own thoughts about that matter, but it was still hard hearing that stuff from someone else.

Only a few month before, he would have thought someone with that theory crazy and now he was so sure of it... it was almost creepy.

But there was something else confusing him.

"I think you're absolutely right, but... how come that you of all people have thought this through so thoroughly? No offence, but I would've thought you'd be... angry at Dumbledore instead of... thinking logically about it," he mumbled carefully.

Sirius huffed. "Hey, I'm not _always_ rushing into things headfirst!" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Alright... maybe I told Moony and he told me his point of view..." his godfather added grumbling.

Chuckling lightly, Harry nodded. That sounded more like it, Remus seemed more down to earth then Sirius. Though he was a bit surprised anyway, he had always thought Remus completely under Dumbledores control.

On the other hand, if _he_ could see the old mans wrongdoings - albeit with a little help - then almost anyone could if it was explained to him or her correctly.

"So... you're backing me up?" Harry finally asked after a silent moment where they both ate the rest of their cakes and Sirius nodded.

"We'll always back you up, pup, remember that. Though we'd suggest not to tell everyone, because in times like these we need solidarity. It's no use to openly antagonize Dumbledore if Voldemort is still out there. We can't give him even more possibilities to attack when he does."

Harry nodded. That made sense. He'd still try to convince Ron and Hermione, but that was it. He would see what could be done about Dumbledore once Voldemort wasn't a threat to everyone anymore.

For now, knowing that there were people who shared his opinion was enough.

"But... promise me something?"

Harry looked questioningly at his godfather as he spoke up again.

"If you ever want to go against him, tell me. I had a week to think about everything and by now I'm not so sure anymore if it was just bad luck that I went into Azkaban without a proper trial."

Harrys eyes widened. No trial? He knew back then many people had gotten no trial, but that no one ever had questioned it, even after Dumbledore had known that Sirius was innocent...

But his godfather wasn't finished yet.

"With certain measurements I'm sure we could get my name cleared and the people at the ministry would be more than happy with dirt on Dumbledores name. You're the 'Boy Who Lived', even though they discredit you now, it could change just as easily. Just don't rush things."

Harry nodded, smiling slightly, and as they stood up, finally deciding to go back, he hugged his godfather. It had really been a good idea to come here.

* * *

**Already more than 300 Followers and 150 Favourites... and don't forget the 77 reviews! You guys are so awesome! 3  
Love you all~!  
**

**So... this chapter was mostly talking between Sirius & Harry, clearing a few things up between them and everything. I just hope Sirius doesn't seem too ooc. (and I made him an auror... not sure if he really was, but I think it would have fitted him :3)  
And... the next chapter will have two (hopefully) very interesting events in it...! Guesses, anyone?**

**Harry Potter isn't mine but J. K. Rowlings.  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	8. Truths

**Chapter 8: Truths**

What followed was a brief panic on Harrys side - he had no muggle money on him, how to pay for that little visit?! - that ended abruptly after Sirius had finished laughing about it and got out some muggle bank card he had gotten wile he had still been keen on buying muggle motorcycles.

He paid and they went back to Grimmauld Place, with Harry sulking only a little bit. Really.

Stopping in front of the door, Sirius looked at Harry.

"Thanks for that walk. I think it was the most fun I had with anyone since almost fifteen years..."

"Nah, thank you too. It was great, being able to talk to you freely without having to fear being overheard, or having to go somewhere in the middle of it... we really need to do that again," Harry answered, smiling brightly, and Sirius smiled back before dropping his glamours.

Even though they had talked about some serious subjects, he knew he'd cherish that memory.

Though... speaking of memories... hadn't he forgotten something? He blinked, then swore in his mind. That prophecy thing! He had completely forgotten about it and the fact that he had wanted to use the pensieve inside of the hidden library room...!

"You alright?" his godfather asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, sorry, just remembered I need to look for something."

Harry shot him a quick smile and Sirius patted him on the shoulder, before letting them both in.

It was weird, needing to think about an address to be able to see the house, really... but oh well, in the magical world almost nothing seemed impossible and more than enough stuff was weird.

Though he would have taken almost any weirdness instead had he known who awaited them inside.

The second both of them were safely inside they found Molly Weasley standing in front of them, seemingly furious. She pointed at the kitchen and went there herself, without a word - which was probably better if they didn't want to wake Walburga - and Sirius and Harry shared a look, that clearly said 'Uh-Oh' - at least on Harrys side - before following her.

She started the second the door was closed behind them.

"Would you like to tell me where you have been?" she asked in a clipped tone.

Sirius took a deep breath. "Outside."

"Yes, I saw that. And where exactly?" Mrs. Weasley pressed on.

"In muggle London," Sirius answered, surprisingly calm.

"Don't you play smart with me Sirius Black!" It was obvious that his answer hadn't satisfied her and she was getting worked up. But this time, Harry watched with anxious interest as Sirius didn't back down, like he usually did. Instead, he straightened up, now towering above her.

"Then don't treat me like I'm one of your kids. I appreciate the fact that you are worried about me, but I'm a grown adult-"

"A grown adult who behaves like a child!" she interrupted him, clearly not wanting to hear his reasoning. "You know exactly what Dumbledore said! It's not safe for you to go out! And to take Harry with you, were you thinking at all? What if You-Know-Who had shown up?! He could have died, Sirius!"

At this, Sirius actually had the nerve to roll his eyes. Harry himself actually wouldn't have done that, he feared the wrath of Mrs. Weasley almost as much as her children did, even though she wasn't often angry with him.

"Honestly, as if Voldemort-" His godfather ignored the hiss of the woman as she heard the name. "-would show up at a random muggle café in the middle of London. And we were taking precautions." The scoff that followed was ignored, too. "Look, I want to see Harry alive as much as you do, but you can't honestly believe that a fifteen year old boy is best while being coped up in some unknown house during his summer holidays, now can you?"

Mrs. Weasley hesitated only for a second before answering. "It might not be the best way to spend ones holidays, but it is by far the safest! You should know that his safety goes first! I can't believe you risked it for something like this! I know it's not easy living here, but it's the best for everyone, _especially_ for you and Harry!"

Sirius didn't miss a beat. "That might be, but what Harry and I do and don't do is our own decision, not yours, as much as you'd like it. It's our lives we're risking."

"Don't be so selfish! _You_ might think that and you seem to imprint your views on Harry too the way things are looking now, but you both shouldn't forget that our hopes rise and fall with Harry! Don't risk his life because of meaningless stunts like these!"

By now, even Sirius' surprisingly found patience seemed to be wearing thin. "Meaningless stunts? Well, excuse us for having _fun_ these days! Not forgetting that I'm an adult wizard and not a bad duellist either. And I have been an auror, too. _I know how to watch out for dark wizards_. That was my job!"

"Well, it _has been_ your job, yes. And then you got yourself into this mess with Peter Pettigrew and landed in Azkaban, didn't you?"

Sirius stiffened and Harry frowned. To remind his godfather of that time was really low and he suspected Mrs. Weasley knew that.

He really wished Remus would be here, he always seemed to have a calming effect on everyone and right now, it would've helped greatly as he didn't trust himself to say anything.

"I will not discuss this any longer," Sirius said coldly, already turning towards the door.

"Then better remember Dumbledores orders next time and stay inside!"

Though Harry was sure - okay, actually he was hoping fervently - that Molly meant well, she shouldn't have formulated it like this.

In a flash, Sirius stood in front of her, looking furious, but so controlled that, for a split second, Harry was almost worried that his godfather was possessed by someone or anything.

"You should do well to remember that this is _my_ house. And Dumbledore may have my permission to use this as the secret hideout for the Order, and he may have cast a fidelius charm to protect it even more, but I _am_ the current Lord of the Black family and I won't tolerate being a prisoner in my own house any longer! I understand that Dumbledore told me to stay put for my own safety, but from now on _I_ will decide if I follow his _advice_. And I won't follow orders from _you_. I don't care if you are only worried about Harry, so am I even if you don't seem to understand that. And while I will always regret that I couldn't be there for him these last years I will not put up with you mentioning it again and again any longer. I will be there for Harry as long as he wants me to be and if you cannot accept that you may as well leave this house and not come back!"

Silence followed his words, as Harry and Mrs. Weasley both stared wide-eyed at the glaring Black Lord. Who finally seemed to have accepted his heritage, even though he hated his family.

Mrs. Weasley seemed to recover first, storming out of the kitchen and slamming the door, which woke Walburgas portrait that started to scream almost instantly.

But at least the noise shook the two remaining males out of their little trance.

"Sorry you had to witness this," Sirius mumbled, having cooled down a bit. "It's not normally that bad, but she tends to use that Azkaban thing against me and... I guess I was tired of backing up. It's some of the worse traits that come with being a Gryffindor I fear." He smiled weakly, before shaking his head. "I guess I'll go tell Remus now. He'll find out on his own sooner or later and I'll get reprimanded anyway."

Harry nodded slowly and Sirius left too, probably going upstairs, ignoring his screaming mother.

Deciding that he didn't want to stay at the kitchen - and even though he felt quite... queasy now after listening to that argument he still had a memory to view - he made his way through the door, preparing to close Walburgas curtains first so that she wouldn't disturb everyone any longer.

The funny thing? The second he stepped into her point of view, she stopped, regarding him closely instead. So he decided to do the same.

She was an old woman, definitely long past her good years, and while the portrait was expertly drawn - if he didn't know better he would've thought it being a window! - it had a weird colouring, which gave the woman yellowish skin. Other than that, she had probably been a beautiful young lady once, but the old age really hadn't done her any good. Even though she still had a certain aristocratic aura around her... if she wasn't screaming her lungs out, that was.

"So... you are the heir..." she finally mumbled, quietly, but loud enough for him to understand. "Kreacher told me your name, Harry Potter. I am surprised that one of Lord Slytherins descendants married a Potter of all families, but I guess they _are_ purebloods... Maybe they've finally shown some interest in the right kind of magic... Haven't had contact with them for ages... and I'm quite glad about that... But you wear the bracelet, you have to have Lord Slytherins abilities..."

She continued mumbling like that for a while and Harry tried to listen patiently, but by now, he was really curious as to what these memories meant.

"Um... I'm sorry to interrupt you Mrs. Black, but I really need to get some urgent business done, would you mind if I close your curtains again?" he asked hesitantly.

To his surprise, she smiled! "Oh no deary, thanks for listening to me. I'm glad that you seem to possess at least a few manners, so much unlike my son. Just continue your business, don't mind me. I'll just send Kreacher if I want something from you." With that, she actually _winked_ at him.

Suppressing a shudder, he closed the curtains with a forced smile and a polite goodbye before rushing upstairs, trying not to think about whatever she was up to...

He got the memory and the letter out of his trunk, where he had placed it the day before - thankfully, Ron wasn't there to ask him about it - and made his way to the library that was located just outside their room.

He went into it, nodding to Hermione who sat, once more, in one of the corners with a table, a stack of books next to her. She was taking the whole research thing very seriously, he'd tell her of Sirius' idea later.

For now, he just made his way through the room, past his normal spot on the windowsill and to the hidden room, easily twisting the candleholder and walking through the wall, now that he knew how to do it.

Inside, he made a beeline for the pensieve, stopping in front of it to read the letter again... A memory from someone he most likely knew... He wondered who that might be and how the unknown person knew that...

But oh well, if he didn't look at it he would never know. So he pulled out the vial and poured the memory into the pensieve, watching as the silvery substance flowed into the basin where it swirled for a moment before it began to depict a scene.

At first, Harry was unsure of where it could be, before he recognised the town Hogsmeade. At least it seemed safe enough.

He leaned forward until his nose touched the substance and he was practically sucked into the memory...

ooo

The next thing he knew was standing next to the Hogs Head, slightly confused. He wasn't used to pensieve travels, so that was part of it, but another part was bugging him, a part he only recognised after a few seconds: The comfortable weight around his body was missing, as Shiva had not visited the memory with him. He had become so used to it...

Shaking his head, he focused. This was no time to think about Shiva, he'd tell her what had happened later, first he needed to find the owner of that memory!

He looked around the village, slightly surprised at the scenery. It looked like the Hogsmeade he knew, but there were a few changes too. So it was probably an old memory.

Also, most of the buildings were strangely blurred, as if he would look at them without his glasses on, but the Hogs Head was as sharp as it could get.

He wondered why, until he noticed most of the people being blurred as well, just like the landscape. Maybe the person who the memory belonged to didn't remember these things? It was only a memory of someone after all, it had to follow a certain logic.

Harry let his gaze sweep over the crowd near the pub, searching for the one person that shouldn't be blurred as they were the owner of this memory. Only to frown as he finally found them.

It was no one else then Severus Snape, his potions professor, though a younger version of him, maybe about twenty.

And as he was already at the door, Harry hurried to follow him inside, he was really curious now. Though not exactly happy that it was _Snape_ that had relayed anything of importance to Voldemort... Not that he hadn't known about him being a Death Eater, but anyway. It didn't help increasing his trust in the man now that Voldemort was back...

Inside the Hogs Head the atmosphere was more or less solemn, so unlike the Three Broomsticks. But in this memory - if it really was from more than fifteen years ago - Voldemort was still on the loose, it probably wasn't all too surprising that not many people wanted to celebrate anything.

Harry watched as Snape went through the small room, sitting down at one of the tables on the far end of it, next to some stairs that probably led up to... more private rooms? Or something like that.

He thought the potions master looked pretty suspicious, but on the other hand almost every other customer here did too - as far as he could see, they weren't very sharp except for one person at the counter, who seemed to be the bartender and was looking strangely familiar - and Snape did blend quite nicely into the background.

As the bartender had his back turned, probably to take something out of the shelves behind him, Snape suddenly stood up and went up the stairs. He was so fast in fact that Harry almost didn't notice and hurried to go after him. His potions professor moved silently, quieter than Harry would've managed outside of a memory, before suddenly jerking to a halt, outside of a door. Harry almost ran into him - or in this case most likely through him - before stopping himself, listening to whatever Snape was trying to listen to.

And really, he could hear voices behind the closed door in front of which they stood. Quiet voices, but easily recognisable.

One definitely belonged to Dumbledore. It wasn't hard to identify it, he had had talks with his headmaster more often than most other students.

It was the other voice that surprised him. He needed a second, but then it was clear to him. He had had the subject since his third year after all.

The second voice belonged to Professor Trelawney, his slightly weird teacher of divination.

It was obvious that they held a job interview right now, with Dumbledore asking about her qualifications and so on.

She was just answering one of his questions as the situation turned strange.

It wasn't the memory, surprisingly, but her voice. And the change was something that sent a shiver up Harrys spine. Her tone had changed drastically into a harsher one. One he had heard only once before, the day she had predicted Peter Pettigrews return to Voldemort... which had come true mere hours later.

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..."_ she said in that strange voice of hers._ "born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..."_

By that time, Harry was focusing entirely on that closed door, wanting to hear the rest of that prophecy. Which probably was the reason why a sudden _thump_ made him jump and turn around. Snape now laid on the floor, motionless, and the barkeeper stood behind him, wand drawn.

"Now, now, who do we have here...?" he muttered darkly, before grabbing Snapes arm and pulling him up.

He knocked sharply on the door before opening it. But as he dragged the immobile man inside - who was insisting he had just gotten the wrong door - telling a slightly younger Dumbledore about what had happened, Harry only had eyes for Trelawney. Sadly, she had already stopped talking, looking slightly confused at the commotion. Harry cursed in his head. That prophecy didn't seem fake to him at all. It actually seemed to be rather vital. And... hadn't Dumbledore told him only two years ago that the 'Pettigrew prophecy' made a total of _two_ real prophecies from Trelawney?

As the memory faded into black, Harrys mind was racing. 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...' Was that really about himself and Voldemort? It seemed to fit if he looked at the age of the people that were present inside of the memory and the fact that he seemed to have 'defeated' Voldemort as he was one year old... and even though he had no idea if his parents had 'thrice defied' Voldemort he was definitely 'born as the seventh month dies', as July was the seventh month in the year.

Dammit.

* * *

**This story now officially has more then 100 Reviews! I might have danced a little after noticing that. ;3  
Thanks again for all the feedback, I'm always so happy to hear that you like my story and your opinion is always very interesting to read.**

**About this chapter: Did anyone guess the two events correctly? I hope it's clear that I meant the visit into the memory (finally...) and the confrontation between Sirius and Molly Weasley. The latter was by the way an idea of 'cookyc'. Thank you for that, I think it fitted very well!**

**(Oh, and for all of you curious as to where the hell Tom is: he WILL appear sooner or later, this fic is Tom/Harry after all! It will just need some time because I try to take a more slow moving path. They did have very different views, especially in the beginning and it will need a while for them to... come to terms with each other. But I'm absolutely positive that there will be some Tom after Harry is back in Hogwarts. Just for your information. :) )  
**

**And on another note (it seems to be information time today *cough*) there _might_ be a longer than usual waiting time between this chapter and the next, or between the next and the one after that. I'm currently slightly behind my 'writing plan' and with my upcoming exams I might not have much time to catch up on that. But I'm having holidays afterwards, if there will be a pause I'll continue then. Just a little warning, it might not be necessary at all, depending on how much time I'll have. Wish me luck. ;)  
**

**Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling.  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	9. Aftermath

**Chapter 9: Aftermath**

He pulled out of the pensieve, taking a seat on the wooden chair next to the desk inside of the hidden room of the Black library, just staring forward for while, thinking.

That... had been enlightening. Somehow. It was hard to believe, but it seemed valid.

And also insanely frustrating! If _that_ was everything Voldemort had heard of the prophecy it was no wonder that he had tried to kill him. It didn't make the fact that the man had killed his parents any better, or his overall actions any more tolerable, but at least it helped him understand a few of Voldemorts motives better.

Maybe not the killing, but... something.

Though that couldn't be everything, he was sure the prophecy contained more. Something Snape hadn't heard since that barkeeper had gotten him before Trelawney was finished.

_"Would you mind explaining to me what on earth just happened?"_ a voice suddenly came from next to him as Shiva - who he had almost forgotten again! - spoke up. _"One second you look into that stone thing and the next you seem almost as lifeless as a rock!"_

He smiled apologetically and stroke the back of her head. Of course, she couldn't know about pensieves, it was probably quite a shock for her.

_"I'm sorry. I just visited the memories of another human to understand what was written about that prophecy in the letter,"_ he explained to her, showing her the letter again to emphasise on that.

_"Quite a scary way to do that. But did it help?"_

Harry then proceeded to tell her what he had seen inside of Snapes memories. She listened patiently but chose not to comment on it, instead she slithered out of under his shirt and on his shoulders.

_"So... what's with that letter? Let's see what it will tell you,"_ Shiva hissed and Harry nodded, looking at the parchment for another second before speaking to it - not without feeling slightly ridiculous while doing so.

"Severus Snape."

Surprisingly - or maybe not so much - the parchment began to shimmer slightly as more text in the same handwriting as the rest appeared.

Curious, though apprehensive, he looked at the newly written part to read.

_I am assuming you saw the memory now. Not very satisfying, is it?  
The full prophecy isn't either, though:  
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...  
born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...  
and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...  
and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...  
the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."  
I have never been a big fan of seers. I am sure you now know why. Incomplete prophecies are dangerous.  
I apologise if I made you uncomfortable or seem too rash, but I think it is safer if you know the content of that prophecy now. You might prefer that to Dumbledores idea of the 'perfect time' to tell you things like these.  
Regards_

Harry stared at the words. Read them once more, before staring again.

If that was true... was he... practically _destined_ to kill Voldemort? He knew that many people seemed to expect it from him - if they weren't busy hating him for some reason or another - but if he was to believe these words, he was the only one that was even _able_ to do it.

He shook his head. That so couldn't be true. He didn't even have a power Voldemort hadn't... at least nothing he knew of.

What a great outlook, wasn't it?

Though honestly? He wasn't sure if that prophecy was really that important anymore. The way it seemed now Voldemort wanted to see him dead anyway. They would have to fight sooner or later...

Even though the text was really vague. But of course, the first part did seem quite clear... Oh he was hating divination more and more.

Why did other people have to screw up his life so much? Couldn't he at least do that himself?

He sighed. But it was probably really better to know it now then to be told whenever Dumbledore thought he was ready. He had the distinct feeling that his headmaster wouldn't think so for a very long time, as long as nothing drastic would happen. He was never told anything more than absolutely necessary anyway...

_"I hate my life,"_ he grumbled, mostly to himself.

Of course, Shiva answered anyway. _"Oh come on, it is not so bad right now."_

_"Well, I don't know... being kept in the dark if it's concerning important information, a psychopath who wants to kill me because of a stupid prophecy and people who can't decide if they want to hate or love me even though I'd prefer it if they wouldn't even know my name..."_

He felt her muscles contract slightly, increasing the pressure on his neck by only a fraction. He blinked confused, before realising something. Was that meant as a... hug? The pressure lessened again and despite his mood he smiled slightly.

_"Thanks..."_

_"You are welcome. And do not worry too much, I am sure everything will work out. You have many resources here, you can find your information yourself. Rely on yourself, that way you can't get disappointed."_

Harry chuckled slightly. Shiva was a snake, snakes almost always relied only on themselves, that was different. He told her he'd think about it anyway.

Not wanting to go back to the others now he went to the small bookshelf inside of the room and looked through the titles. As he had assumed, the books all dealt with the Dark Arts, even their titles suggested as much. And most of them seemed pretty old, too. What else were books that called themselves _Magick Moste Evile_?

He knew that this stuff was probably disgusting, but he couldn't help wondering if Voldemort had read some of these books too. Because really, it was clear that one needed to know what to fight. Defence Against the Dark Arts was only possible if you knew about the Dark Arts... even if you'd never use it.

So after hesitating a few more moments he finally pulled out one of the books, called _Secrets of the Darkest Art_. Might as well begin with the worst stuff, it could only get better then.

ooo

That night, as he left the hidden room to finally go to sleep, he felt sick.

He had been right. The first book he had read really had been the worst. The rituals that had been described there... why anyone would do _that_ voluntarily was beyond him!

He shuddered. Though the following books hadn't been much better. Even Shiva had commented on it, wondering why humans would think of rituals and spells like that. He had no idea, but he guessed that this stuff really was the more fucked up branch of dark magic. The worst of the worst, so to speak. At least he had never heard anything like that before... he shook his head. Hopefully not even Voldemort would use spells like these... at least he hadn't done so at the graveyard, sticking to the Unforgivable Curses.

If it was true that the Avada Kedavra killed painlessly... well, it seemed friendlier than any of the spells Harry now knew. And would _never ever_ tell anyone about, let alone use them!

He really needed to go to bed and stop thinking about it...!

ooo

The next days were filled with harmless research. He had decided to avoid the Dark Arts section for a while, opting to sit with Hermione instead, researching things about prophecies and their correctness.

He had told her about Sirius' idea and though she was reluctant she had agreed eventually, probably because her curiosity was stronger.

Also, she was still researching, telling him that newer books didn't include that topic at all, but a few of the older ones hinted that magic couldn't come out of nowhere and she was beginning to think about genetics.

He had made the mistake of asking, which had led to a complex explaining session. Something about a magical gene that was passed on to every child a magical person had and it being the cause for one being able to use magic. And with squibs it... somehow changed or anything, so that it was still present, but inactive.

That way there was a possibility that descendants of Squibs still had that inactive magical gene. And if it changed again, after a few generations, and became active once more, that child was called a 'muggleborn'.

She told him that there were still a few inconsistencies in her theory but she was positive to work it out before the weekend.

And _he_ was positive that he had no idea what she was talking about. One of the side effects of a purely magical education (after elementary school that was, but they focused on reading, writing and the basics of maths). Sure, a little bit of Biology was taught in Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology, but about humans and genetics? Nope, nothing.

No wonder purebloods still valued their 'purity' so much if they had no idea about incest and it's aftermath.

But despite him not really getting what she was talking about, at least it helped distracting him. Not that the books about prophecies didn't, too.

By Friday he had found out that prophecies didn't have to be fulfilled, that, in fact, many prophecies never happened. As divination was a very vague branch of magic it wasn't uncommon to misinterpret things.

Sadly, this probably wasn't the case with 'his' prophecy. But something else he found proved more or less fitting. It said that one could deliberately go against a prophecy. There was no Fate forcing their hands, if there was a prophecy about someone doing something and that person chose not to do it, it became void.

He wondered if that meant - just in theory - if Voldemort and himself would stop trying to kill each other they wouldn't have to do so?

Not that 'No one can live while the other survives' strictly told them 'One has to kill the other', but... it was his closest guess.

He had even let Hermione in on that prophecy, though it was mostly because she had insisted on knowing why he was researching prophecies if he hated divination so much.

But it proved to be a good idea in the end, as - even though she was entirely distrustful as to how he had gotten that prophecy - she got him the final proof that this wasn't a hoax.

As she had taken divination herself in third year she had read quite a few books about it, some of them not available here - the Blacks probably didn't like divination either. And one of these books had clearly stated that, though most seers fell into some kind of trance while making a prophecy, every person was different when predicting the future.

That meant at least the memory part had to be true, as Harry had recognized Trelawneys 'trance voice' since he had heard it once before. Snape couldn't have heard it otherwise though, because Dumbledore himself had told Harry Trelawney had only made two true prophecies yet.

Sure, there was always the chance that there had been another prophecy around Snape, without Dumbledore knowing about it, but... that was very unlikely.

No, even Hermione had reluctantly agreed that this prophecy seemed plausible. But she had still insisted on telling an adult and since Dumbledore was out of question they chose Remus. He seemed to be the most impartial person right now and wasn't as hot headed as Sirius.

ooo

But that had to wait, as time flew by and suddenly the weekend was there.

Both Harry and Hermione were equally nervous - they had tried researching the ritual but it seemed that this was a purely verbally relayed information as they had found nothing.

Sirius seemed only mildly concerned though, casually telling them what Hermione had to do and how she should stop herself if she started feeling weak, but that he would stop her by force if necessary.

He then took out his wand and locked the door behind them - even though they used a room that no one normally visited as it was still quite dirty, it was better to be safe than sorry - before beginning to chant the words needed for that procedure.

Compared to other rituals it was quite short, but Harry still watched nervously as Hermione drank one of the potions Sirius had brewed and began to emit a soft glow. As Sirius finished the spell she took the knife that they had nicked from the kitchen and cut her index finger lightly, before pressing the small wound on the prepared parchment.

The effect was instantly.

She gasped as the magic began to be draw her blood out of her finger and onto the parchment, forming a small line that soon split up, writing the names of her parents, followed by more lines, the names of her four grandparents, and so on. It was really fascinating to watch as the red lines spread further, forming names after names.

Of course, since every generation was twice as big as the one before and therefore needed more blood Harry could see by now how it wasn't exactly safe...

But Hermione seemed to concentrate, her eyes hurried over all the names, hoping to see anything familiar. They had found an old book with a list of pureblood names and memorised them. A few names had been familiar to them - like Malfoy or Longbottom - but there were others too.

Thankfully, the lines were slim and as Hermione took a surprised breath and stopped touching the parchment she seemed only slightly paler than usual.

Sirius came up to heal her finger but she had only eyes for the parchment.

"Look there!"

She pointed with her free hand at a name. A maternal great-great-great-grandmother of her.

_Larissa Greengrass_.

The parchment showed Hermiones ancestors with their maiden names, meaning that she was probably the squib, seeing that she had a Greengrass-father - though it was the last Generation depicted by this family tree now - and a Malfoy mother.

"It's true...!" Hermione whispered, quite shocked. It was clear that, despite her research, she hadn't thought it was possible. "I know for a fact that the names of my parents and grandparents are correct, the chance is low that the magic jumbled up the others. And Greengrass was definitely on that pureblood list we had. I'm sure of it, because I was thinking of Daphne Greengrass, one of the Slytherins in our year, and wondered if her family was still pureblood."

She sat down on the bed that was occupying the room, taking the blood replenisher potion Sirius was handing her as a precaution and drinking it silently.

"So... do you still want to do it, too?" Sirius asked cautiously, obviously unsure after he had seen Hermiones reaction to it.

Harry nodded anyway. He was really curious now. But he also hoped, that he wasn't actually related to Malfoy too. Not that he wasn't already because of his paternal grandmother that had been a Black, but that wasn't directly, as his family had married into another branch than the Malfoys. And he really didn't want to be a descendant of a Malfoy family squib or anything.

So he took a deep, calming breath as Sirius took Hermiones family tree away, making room for another big parchment, before drinking the second ritual potion his godfather had brewed after the chanting had begun.

It tasted weird, almost like liquid rubber, but he had already drunken worse. So he just scrunched up his nose before cutting his own, now glowing index finger and pressing it on the fresh parchment.

Instantly, he understood why Hermione had gasped before. He did too. It was a really weird feeling to feel ones blood being sucked out.

As the first names appeared, he tried ignoring the sensation, reading them to look out for anything of interest. But it was quiet hard to focus on that task, actually, especially after he had read the first names. His parents, who he had never really known... his grandparents, one of which was Dorea Black... and then his attention was already lost as he saw parts of the Black family tree spreading out from his fingers over the parchment, which thankfully grew magically as the family tree expanded.

He was completely enthralled and didn't even realise how he felt increasingly dizzy.

Only a worried "Harry!" and Sirius, who forced his finger from the parchment, pulled him out of his trance-like state.

He blinked, surprised, looking at his family tree. While Hermione had depicted just about one hundred names - six generations - his family tree was, with only two more generations, almost five times as big as it held more than five hundred names.

At least the writing was small and it hadn't drawn too much blood, but the dizziness still crashed down upon him as he turned to look at his godfather. Who luckily had good reflexes, catching him before he hit the floor.

"Harry! Honestly, I like your curiosity, but one or two more generations could have killed you!" Sirius muttered, silently summoning another blood replenisher potion and making Harry drink it more or less gently.

That stuff tasted icky too...

Still, a few minutes later he was feeling slightly better and now the three of them looked at his family tree, searching on his mothers side for anything interesting.

And again, it was Hermione who found something first.

"Look, isn't that...?"

She didn't have to finish her sentence. The name she pointed out - about five generations away - was pretty easy to recognize.

_Alastor Moody._

Harrys eyebrows shot up. "You can't mean... he's not _that_ old, is he?"

Now it was Sirius spoke. "Oh come on, that generation is more than one hundred years away. I know he looks old but... that's probably his grandfather or anything."

"Or a brother of his grandfather, which is more likely," Hermione chipped in. "_That_ Alastor Moody was probably a squib too, otherwise Lilys grandparents should have been magical. And I don't really think so."

Sirius chuckled. "So Harry could be the great-great-grandson of Mad-Eyes great-uncle?"

Hermione nodded. "Basically, yes."

"That's wicked!"

Harry nodded slowly. It really was kinda cool, even though Moody always seemed so paranoid. He hadn't seen the ex-auror very often as he was mostly busy with missions for the Order, but the prolonged stay in his own trunk probably hadn't done him any good.

"So... now that we have this knowledge, what do we do?", Hermione finally asked, voicing out the question Harry had asked himself in his mind already.

Sirius shrugged. "Dunno. I guess we can't do much right now, since there probably are reasons no one knows about this anymore. There might be a possibility someone wanted that information to be unknown. I guess we should wait, maybe one day there will be the perfect opportunity to publish a theory like that."

Harry nodded again. That seemed plausible. For now it should suffice to know about it, it shouldn't really change anything.

The three of them concluded to keep their knowledge for themselves for now, with the exception of Remus and Ron, before parting ways. It was almost lunch time anyway and they needed to interact with some other people again. Especially Harry and Hermione, who had been in the library way too often lately.

As Sirius made his way up to his and Remus' room - though why they shared a room even though there was plenty of space in the house Harry didn't know - both students went downstairs to look if they could help Mrs. Weasley with anything in the kitchen.

* * *

**Surprise, a new chapter in the middle of my exam time *cough* (though I have to say, that it was mostly finished anyway, I just added a few more lines this weekend.)  
I'm not sure if the next chapter will come as usual or if there will be another short wait, we'll see...  
**

**Anyway, thanks as always for all your lovely reviews! (Even though I might not agree fully with every one, I read them all and try to answer open questions and everything if necessary)  
**

**So... yes. We now (finally?) had the blood test done. It might not make a big difference now, but you never know what the future will bring :3  
Next chapter will finally have a bit more of Ron... I fear I'm not including him enough, but I think he's quite difficult to write... and after that... it won't be long until it's Hogwarts time!  
**

**Harry Potter will probably always belong to J. K. Rowling.  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	10. Talking about Assumptions

**Chapter 10: Talking about Assumptions**

Harry and Hermione had almost reached the ground floor as they nearly collided with Ron.

Who in turn blinked surprised as they saw them before focusing on Harry.

"There you are! I've searched half the house for you now! Could you come with me for a sec?"

Harry stared at him, slightly confused, before shrugging. "Sure." He turned to Hermione. "Just go on without me, I'll come down later."

With that they parted and Harry followed Ron back to their room.

At first, he wondered why his friend had searched him so intently, but then he noticed the owl on his bed. A certain dark brown eagle owl.

"Sorry mate, but this owl flew in here and refused to let me take it's letter." He showed Harry his right hand, which had a few peck marks on it. "Be glad that the incoming owls aren't controlled, too. That bird would've caused a commotion!" He wrinkled his nose before looking at Harry again, now definitely curious. "Who is it from, anyway? Haven't seen that owl before."

Harry shrugged, feigning ignorance. "Can't know it till I've read it, right?"

He walked over to the bird and carefully took off it's message. Surprisingly, it didn't fly off as fast as normally, so he even had time to pet it for a second. It's feathers were soft and clean, he really began to like that bird.

Only as it flew off through the opened window he looked at the letter.

_Harry,  
I have decided to divulge a few facts to you.  
Facts, that will hopefully amuse or enlighten you, but will not give away my identity as it is not the right time for that yet.  
My owl is a male called Quetzalcoatl. Please do not abbreviate his name.  
Regards_

Harry blinked, surprised, before smiling. Somehow, he thought that name fitting, even though it was quite long. And it couldn't hurt to get a few facts about this mysterious person. Maybe he could still find out their identity like that.

"So...?" Ron wondered aloud, looking questioningly at his friend. "Who's it from?"

Harry wondered for a split second if he should tell Ron what he knew, before deciding against it. That would just bring up more questions and he really didn't want to answer everything Hermione had asked again. Especially since their talk with Remus still lay before them.

Instead he chose another tactic, giving the letter to Ron. "No idea, ever seen that handwriting before?"

Ron took the parchment and read through it, before grinning slightly. "Nope, never, but it has something girlish, don't you think? Maybe it's a secret admirer? Can't have everyone hate you, right?"

"Uh... yeah." Somehow, Harry was pretty sure that this wasn't the case, considering his earlier letters, but that way, Ron would stay out of his business.

"But she's a bit weird, huh? Who the hell names his owl Quetza... something?"

"Quetzalcoatl. It's some kind of god in an old muggle religion," Harry explained, for once glad he had read so many names in search of one for Shiva. Though he was surprised that a wizard knew about it. That meant they probably had at least one close muggle relative or very special interests.

"Ah... well, whatever. It's not as if you're interested in her, right?"

Suddenly, the mood turned serious, leaving Harry even more confused.

"Eh... what?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"You've got another love interest, haven't you?" Ron grumbled.

"What are you talking about...?"

"Well, Hermione of course! You've been spending so much time with her, it's obvious! Even mum hinted abut it..."

By now, Harry was staring incredulously at his friend.

"Seriously? I mean... look, I may love Hermione" Rons eyes went wide. "but only as a _sister_!"

Also, he was pretty sure she was crushing on someone else, judging from her letters she had written him during the summer, talking excitedly about a special pen friend of hers. He had an idea who that was, but telling Ron would've been the most stupid thing he could do right now.

"But... but even mum said so!"

"Well... I think she's just exaggerating. Honestly, I don't even like any girl right now..."

Rons eyes widened even further "You don't mean... You're not..."

For a second, Harry wondered what was wrong, before he recalled what exactly he said. And what Ron must've misunderstood. "Um... you're not thinking I'm gay, do you?"

His friend blushed slightly. Well, that was answer enough.

"Look, I didn't mean it that way. I'm just not romantically interested in anyone currently. No girl, no boy. Alright?" Not that he'd care which gender a 'potential love interest' of him should have. He knew the Dursleys disliked homosexuals because they 'were not normal', but really, they were all human beings. Personality was the most important thing, wasn't it?

But Ron was looking too relieved to tell him that, instead he changed the topic to a slightly safer one, telling him about the blood test results. He was bound to learn about that anyway sooner or later and since Hermione knew it was only fair anyway.

Though Harry still wasn't sure if Ron believed him in the romance issue. But he'd worry about that later.

ooo

The next day was a Sunday, which mainly stood for a quite full headquarters and less work. Meaning it was the perfect time for Harry and Hermione to talk to Remus without being missed.

They didn't need much time to convince him to listen to them - though finding him before had been proven quite difficult with someone always interrupting their search. Like the Weasley twins who had created some new powder out of something connected with Doxys. Harry really didn't want to know and Hermione had started a small lecture before being reminded that they had other things to do first.

So after a few interruptions like that the three of them finally sat together inside of one of the empty rooms, Remus looking confused at both students and Hermione staring intently at Harry, who gave a resigned sigh before explaining to them (since Hermione only knew about half of it) about the letters. Since he had kept them all, he could even show them, though only under the promise that he would get them back unharmed.

He had really started to grow fond of his anonymous writer, but Hermione always was way more analytical than him. The last time he had gotten anything from an anonymous person - namely his firebolt - had resulted in a long wait as three of his professors had insisted on completely taking it apart after Hermione had told them. He really didn't want to live through something like _that_ again.

After he had finished, silence ensued. He could see both Remus and Hermione thinking over what he had just told them and wondered what they'd say.

It was Remus who opened his mouth first.

"I'm sure you know that you should be careful. Anonymous letters should always be taken seriously. Of course, in this case, the writer does not seem to want to cause trouble, but he or she has also not given you a name. There has to be a reason for that."

Harry nodded. He had had some of these thoughts too and he was glad that Remus didn't outright try to talk him out of it.

"You know, I think it's Snape," Hermione suddenly piped up, looking nervous as two bewildered stares met her.

"_Snape_...?" Harry asked incredulously. "Why would you think _that_?"

"Well... I was thinking about people who could write you without you knowing, maybe because they knew you would never listen to them if you knew their identity, since that prophecy thing was quite the big piece of information. And while I had a few ideas, I could not imagine people like the Malfoys or anything, since they honestly seem to hate you. And I don't think they'd have the resources for getting the full prophecy anyway. But Snape... remember how he saved you from falling to death on your bewitched broom in first year?"

"Well that was because of some stupid debt he had with my father," Harry answered, but Hermione wasn't finished.

"Oh come on, Snape hates your father, I don't think it has been just that. Also, he did try and protect us in third year that one night... remember?"

The last words were said a little bit quieter, with a worried look to Remus, who gave a forced smile, motioning for her to continue.

Of course, that night she was talking about had been the one where Remus had forgotten to drink his wolfsbane and had transformed in front of them. And it _had_ been Snape who had woken up just I time to stand before them, shielding them with their arms.

Harry had almost forgotten that incident, since Snape had never commented on it again, hating him even more after Sirius had vanished and with him the chances of an Order of Merlin.

But he had to agree that Snape could've let them fend for themselves... still, it was highly unlikely...

And his face must've shown his thoughts, because Hermione rolled her eyes at him before continuing.

"I know you don't like him, but think about it logically for a moment: Could you name a person not only willing to help you but also close enough to Snape for him to give away that prophecy-memory of his? I might not know much about what Snape does in his freetime - and if I'm honest I don't want to know - but I don't think he has many friends. Especially not those who want to help you. It must be him..."

"But... it's _Snape_!" Harry was so sure of their mutual hatred, he just couldn't make it work in his head that it should have been _him_ of all people sending these letters. "I mean... it's not his writing, I'm sure of it! Ron even thought it'd belong to a _girl_ and we all know Snapes writing."

Hermione had an answer for that too. "He could have used a spell to change his handwriting. And the wording sounds like something he would write, too. He might not be a very nice person, but he talks eloquently."

She turned to Remus, looking questioningly at him. "What do you think? You probably know him better than us. Could it be him?"

The man looked thoughtful for a while, before slowly answering. "Well... it's not completely impossible. Severus is a very difficult person, it's hard to assess him. While he does seem to hate you, Hermione is right too as he also protects you if necessary. Maybe it has something to do with your mother? I'm not sure, but back when we all went to school, he and Lily were often seen together. At least I remember James complaining about them on several occasions... though all of that ended before our seventh year and Lily and James came together... I wonder what happened?"

Harry blinked. _Snape_ might have been been friends with his _mother_? No way... he shook his head.

"Look at the second message! That doesn't sound like him at all!"

Hermione thought about it. "Well... he could have written it to throw you off his path..."

"But how did he know about the Dementors?"

This time, it was Remus who answered. "Sirius told me he had overheard Dumbledore ordering someone to check up on you that day. He said he had only heard Dumbledore speaking about Dementors and the tragic accident of Mrs. Figg, but not the answer. So it might have been Snape."

That... sounded logical. Sadly. Slowly, Harry had to admit, that the reasoning made sense somehow... even if he didn't want to- wait a second.

"How did he know about Mrs. Figg?" He frowned. He had no idea how Dumbledore could have known about the Dementors so fast anyway, but about a muggle woman?

"Well, Dumbledore probably didn't tell you, but she has been a member of the order," Remus explained, as if that cleared everything up.

But it only did the opposite. "An order member? Why should a muggle be a member of the Order of the Phoenix?"

Now it was Remus' time to look confused. "Muggle? But she was a squib, I thought you knew that? She was one of the guardians to look after you..."

"...Guardians? You mean, I was watched?"

"Well... not very closely as far as I know, but yes... I thought you knew, since we were always told they'd be there for you if you had a problem." Remus shook his head. "We should have enquired further, I'm sorry."

Harry just sat there. It was... quite a shock, that he had been watched but never been told anything. Not that it wasn't always like that. Why tell him anything? It wasn't as if everyone wanted him to save their behinds or anything...

So... honestly? If that writer really was Snape, then whatever. At least he told him things. _Important _things.

He'd probably never come to like his potions professor, but he could still pretend it being some weird nice second personality of him, writing these letters. That way he at least could continue to like reading these letters.

Telling the other two his decision they nodded and agreed that Snape was their main suspect but that they wouldn't mention anything to anyone else unless Harry knew for certain.

Until then, he'd continue being on his guard a little, telling Remus if he thought something was off, but otherwise letting his friends see his letters. Ron could continue believing it was a girl for now, his hatred against Snape was even bigger than Harrys, they'd only tell him if there was proof. It'd probably be easier for all of them.

So... for now, they could focus on enjoying the last few days of holidays before school would start again. And by then they'd probably have enough other problems to think about.

ooo

Their Hogwarts letters arrived at the last day of holidays. Harry had just been packing his trunk after asking Sirius if he was allowed to take a few books from the Black library with him - his godfather had agreed easily, since he didn't care about most books in there anyway - as Ron opened the door, handing him his letter with a remark of how it was bloody time for it.

Which was true, considering they had to get all their stuff today. Diagon Alley would be packed.

Harry took his letters out, just skimming over the first one, the standard 'We're happy to welcome you back'-text, before looking at the book list.

This year, it was pretty small, featuring only three new books, one of them being the expected _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5_ for Charms, the other two being called _Self-Defensive Spellwork_ and _A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter-Actions_.

As if sensing the perfect moment, Fred and George apparated into the room, with identical grins on their faces.

"Hey guys, already looked at the book lists as of yet? I don't know about you, but judging from the titles _we_ think we might even get a useful teacher this year!" George said, patting Harry - who was standing right next to them - on the shoulder.

"Yeah, seems way more useful then books like _Holidays with Hags_, doesn't it?" Harry answered, rolling his eyes at the memory of his most incompetent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher as of yet. "Makes me wonder why the book lists have arrived only now though. A bit late, isn't it?"

The twins nodded simultaneously.

"We've overheard mom and dad talking yesterday." "They said something about Dumbledore having trouble finding a new teacher-" "Not that we didn't know _that_ already." "-so we guess he finally found one."

Harry blinked for a second, trying to comprehend what they said - the twins had began to use all of that switching while talking quite often lately, mainly because it drove their mother mad when they did.

But they always liked confusing people, so it wasn't all too weird.

"Hey, what's wrong with Ron anyway?" Fred asked suddenly, looking at Ron who seemed to stare at his letter with a slightly opened mouth. " I'm pretty sure he hasn't moved since we came in."

"Maybe his brain has finally stopped working?" George joked, walking over to his younger brother and looking over his shoulder to see what had shocked him.

Immediately, his mouth fell open too.

"Watch out, it's contagious!" Fred mumbled to Harry, who grinned slightly, though honestly curious what was going on now.

Thankfully, George solved that problem about one second later.

"Prefect? _Prefect_?" he stuttered, shell-shocked.

Immediately, Fred jumped over, taking the envelope Ron still held in his hands, turning it upside down. And really, there it was. A red and gold badge, lying on Freds palm.

"Prefect...? _Ron_?" Fred mumbled, before looking at Harry. "We were so sure it'd be _you_."

"Honestly, what was Dumbledore thinking?" "Maybe Harry has too much of a bad reputation?" "But then, why Ron? Look at him, it's as if Dumbledore had made one of _us_ prefects!"

During the twins little argument, Harry had taken the badge from Fred to take a look at it. It had a large 'P' across the red and gold background, with a lion on it. Just like Percys had been.

Yep, definitely a prefect badge.

He gave the badge to Ron, who was now staring at him as if he wanted him to confirm it.

"Uh... congratulations, Ron," he murmured, unsure what to think of that whole thing. Sure, secretly he had hoped to become a prefect too, but lately he had wondered if that was such a great thing to be. Fred and George were the most obvious examples that even without a prefect badge you could do well in life. And without a badge he probably had way more freedom anyway, since he didn't need to do patrols and stuff.

Yes, maybe _someone_ had needed to show him the downsides of being a prefect first - or at least remind him that it wasn't all sunshine and power - as they had talked before.

And surprisingly, this someone had not been Shiva this time. Though maybe it wasn't all that surprising, she _was_ a snake after all and couldn't know about prefect duties at Hogwarts.

No, it had been Hermione. She had given him a huge lecture on all the things a prefect had to do after a casual remark that it would be cool to be able to give detentions to other students.

And, speaking of Hermione... That moment, the door banged open, revealing the bushy-haired girl looking excitedly at the boys before running to Harry, hugging him tightly.

"I did it!" she exclaimed happily before letting him go again.

He grinned. "Congratulations! I knew you'd make it."

"So... who's the other one?" she wondered aloud, looking hopefully at Harry, who shook his head apologetically.

Ron gave a sound that sounded more like 'thnkme' than the 'I think it's me' it should probably have been.

Hermiones eyes went wide as she saw that badge in his hands.

"_You_? Um... I mean... congratulations!" she said awkwardly, poorly hiding her surprise.

But really, who could blame her? Even Ron himself wouldn't have thought it possible, so how could anyone else? Actually, if Harry thought neutrally about it, Dean would've seemed the best option for prefect. He was the only Gryffindor boy in their year who didn't get into big troubles each year, blew stuff up even if it should have been incombustible or had so little self-confidence he probably couldn't give a detention to a second-year.

Why Dumbledore had chosen Ron was a mystery itself. The only thing Harry knew was that it would make this school year probably less entertaining, with both of his best friends being away for duties like patrolling the school after curfew... great.

This school year would certainly be... different.

* * *

**So... the wait between the last two chapters was sightly longer than expected, but... there it is, a new chapter! *cough*  
My exams are over and I did okay I guess, so I should have more time to write now. :3  
**

**A big thank you for all reviews, favorites and followers! It's so crazy, more than 500 followers and almost 200 reviews? You guys are awesome!**

**Anyway, this chapter had a lot of talking in it... but hey, the next chapter will include the Hogwarts Express, meaning you will get to see Hogwarts very soon! Also, the mystery as to who the new DADA teacher is will be unravelled then...!What do you think of Hermiones theory? Could it be Snape? (Of course, I already know, but I'm happy to hear your opinions!)  
**

**Harry Potter belongs to JKR.**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	11. Onwards to Hogwarts

**Chapter 11: Onwards to Hogwarts**

The rest of the day had been a flood of events. After Mrs. Weasley had heard of Rons little achievement, she had been so happy she bought him a new broom - his wish instead of an animal or something - while getting all the books the students needed.

That meant Harry wasn't able to go to Diagon Alley himself, but there were still Hogsmeade weekends, he'd find whatever he needed then.

For now, a whole crowd of order members surrounded them, including Remus, Tonks and Moody, all of them disguised more or less obviously - since Tonks was a metamorphmagus and could change her appearance at will, her disguise was perfect, but Moody... well, with a bit goodwill one could think of him as a normal deranged old man... or something. Everything to protect them, though Harry wondered if Voldemort would really do something so stupid as attacking him on his way through Muggle London. It was a possibility, but chances were low.

Still, Sirius insisted on coming with them, earning a disapproving look from Mrs. Weasley, but wisely she didn't comment on it.

Instead she watched the black dog warily as he followed them through the streets, wagging his tail happily, scaring a few muggles again, until they finally reached Kings Cross.

They made their way through to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters where a few people commented on Sirius, telling Harry what a cool dog he had.

He just thanked them happily before Remus walked up to him to whisper something into his ear.

"I think Padfoot wants to talk to you..."

He led Harry and Sirius to a more private part of the platform, before waving his wand - Harry wondered what kind of spell that had been, maybe some privacy ward? - and turning his back to them.

Sirius looked around, sniffing a bit before deciding that the coast was clear and changing back. He once more had a few glamours applied, so Harry blinked for a second before he was already pulled into a hug.

"Have fun, pup, okay? Don't let your school year get spoiled by anyone." He let Harry go, smiling slightly. "I remember _my_ fifth year, I had lots of fun back then. I'm sure you'll do fine."

By now, Harry was smiling too. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." He then pulled a poorly wrapped parcel out of his pocket. "Look, I actually wanted that to be your birthday present, but _someone_ was against it, so I'm giving it to you now. It's a two-way mirror."

At Harrys confused look he added "It's one of two mirrors - the other one being in my possession - which are charmed to show the other ones reflection if you tell it the name of the other owner."

"Meaning if I'd say your name, it would connect to your mirror?"

"Exactly! James and I used it to keep in contact if we had different detentions. The teachers never found out how we did it," Sirius explained proudly and Harry had to chuckle. Yes, that did seem like something his godfather would do.

"That's wicked..."

"Absolutely. If you ever want to talk, just try it out. It doesn't even have to be something important - as long as you don't wake me up in the middle of the night to talk about the weather, that is."

Both of them grinned at each other and Harry put the parcel safely away, before looking at the clock. He had about five minutes to get into the train, now.

"Well... I guess it's time, huh?" Sirius said, having followed his gaze. "Good luck, pup."

With that, he hugged his godson once more before turning back into the black dog, dutifully trotting over to Remus, with Harry following him, and together they made their way back to the others.

"_Harry_, where have you been?" Hermione asked worriedly as she saw him. "We have to hurry or the train will leave without us!"

"Yeah, sorry...!" he answered, slightly distracted, before turning around, hugging Sirius in his dog form.

"Bye, Snuffles," he whispered, smiling at the intelligent eyes that reminded him so much of his godfather in his human form. "I'll write."

With that, he waved once to the rest of the group before following Hermione, Ron and Ginny into the train.

Once inside, Ron and Hermione had to hurry to get to the prefects compartment, leaving Harry and Ginny to search themselves an empty compartment. Which turned out to be quite difficult as most of them had already been taken by other students.

After walking through most of the train they found Neville standing on the corridor, looking nervously inside a seemingly empty compartment. When asked why he was not going in he mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone and Harry raised his eyebrow has he took a look inside himself.

There actually sat a blond girl who had a magazine in front of her, staring intently at it's pages.

"Oh come on, she looks nice."

"I know that," Neville mumbled defiantly. Ginny shortly seemed as if she wanted to say something but Harry had already opened the door so she stayed quiet.

"Excuse me, are these seats still empty?"

The girl looked at him with a dreamy expression on her face, probably due to her prominent eyes. Sure, she seemed a little strange, having her wand tucked behind her ear and a necklace out of Butterbeer caps around her neck, but she gave a small smile and nodded.

Harry smiled back and the three fifth-years seated themselves - Ginny sat next to the blond girl and Harry was sitting across her with Neville beside him.

There was silence for a few seconds afterwards, before the girl spoke up again.

"You're Harry Potter."

Harry blinked, slightly surprised - people asked him mostly if he really was THE Harry Potter instead of simply stating it - before nodding slowly. "That I am. And you are...?"

"My name is Luna. Luna Lovegood."

"Well, nice to meet you, Luna."

"She's a Ravenclaw in my year," Ginny interjected, but Luna didn't seem to notice. Instead, she had focused her eyes on Neville.

"I don't know your name..."

"Uh... I'm nobody..." Neville mumbled, blushing slightly as he suddenly held the whole attention of the three other students.

"Oh come on!" Harry prodded him with his elbow. "Luna, this is Neville Longbottom. A fellow Gryffindor."

"Then hello, Neville," she said, smiling at him.

"Hello..." he smiled back, slightly, and she nodded, before returning to her magazine.

A more comfortable silence followed as the train began to move and passed the landscape that would ultimately lead to Hogwarts...

Harry was already thinking of getting out a book - one of the more harmless ones of course, since he had chosen to bring a variety of books with him - as Neville suddenly started to speak up again.

"Harry! Do you know what my grandmother gave me as a birthday present?"

Slightly confused - Neville seemed surprisingly enthusiastic all of a sudden - Harry shook his head and Neville rummaged in his trunk before pulling out a slightly deformed looking cactus. He proceeded to show him how great that plant was - which ended in a temporary disaster, as they quickly found out that an irritated _Mimbulus mimbletonia_ (the name of said cactus) could spew Stinksap. And a whole lot of it.

Thankfully, Ginny was quite apt at cleaning spells and Harry joined her after a few moments of shock - sitting next to Neville proved fatal when trying to dodge smelly green fluids - doing an acceptable job himself. Thankfully, no one seemed to have heard the quiet hiss of frustration Shiva gave as the rancid smell reached her sensitive tongue. So at least Harry didn't need to explain why he had a snake coiled around his body.

Instead, only moments after the Stinksap incident, the door opened. At first, Harry thought that Ron and Hermione might be back, but it turned out to be Cho Chang instead, the Ravenclaw Seeker who had seemingly come for some smalltalk. They chatted a bit, but mostly about how the summer had been and stuff and since Harry couldn't really tell her about the order - or, even worse, about the Dursleys - he stayed pretty vague, which didn't really help either so she soon said goodbye.

As she left he turned to look out of the window, wondering what he had liked about her last year. Sure, she was really pretty with her long, black hair, but the only conversations he had had with her were mindless chitchats... nothing of interest...

ooo

Ron and Hermione turned up about one hour later. The food trolley had already passed and the four students each munched on one or another sweet as the door opened and the prefects came in, both looking exhausted and frustrated.

Harry offered each of them a chocolate frog that they took gratefully as they bemoaned the choice of prefects in the other houses. Especially Slytherin, where Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson seemingly had gotten the badges.

And while Harry could understand their frustration about it perfectly well - his animosity with Malfoy had quite a history already - he wondered if it was just by chance (as it seemed to be with Ron) or if there was a reason why these two got appointed. After all, prefects should normally be students to look up to... who knew how Slytherins acted when they were alone?

At least Harry himself had recognized that Gryffindors were pretty funny to be with and everything but could get outright vicious if there was another Gryffindor-Slytherin quarrel coming up. So why shouldn't Slytherins be the same, only... sneakier? It held a certain logic if he thought about it this way, but - of course - he had to be pushed into that direction first.

Shivas train of thoughts where so different she really helped him seeing some things in a different light sometimes. Just one of the reasons he loved that snake.

They talked a bit about prefect duties, before falling silent, each following their own thoughts.

It was then that Harry looked a bit closer at the magazine Luna was reading. It was hard to guess, since she held it upside-down, but after a few moments he made it out to be "The Quibbler".

Wondering what a magazine with this name published, he concentrated on reading the headlines on the cover, making out something about Fudge, the current Minister of Magic, and... was that an article about Sirius?

"Um... may I take a look at that when you're finished?" Harry asked politely and Luna looked up, looking almost startled for a second before nodding and handing it to him.

"Sure. Take your time."

He thanked her and, ignoring the confused looks his best friends where giving him, began to study the magazine while Luna stared out of the window instead, a dreamy smile on her face.

ooo

Most of the articles were... just as strange as Luna was, really, but even though many things where rubbish - like "Sirius Black" actually being a false name for a singing talent named Stubby Boardman - most of them actually had a true core. Yes, Sirius was innocent. And yes, Harry could easily believe that Fudge had a few skeletons in his closet. After that whole 'Voldemort isn't back and everyone who objects will be declared mentally unstable'-thing he had pulled Harry saw the minister in a very different light now. Though he didn't think it had to do with killing goblins.

So maybe the Quibbler wasn't the most stable source of information, but nonetheless an interesting one.

Sadly, he couldn't finish the magazine as the door opened once more. This time, with a far more unpleasant guest.

The obligatory visit of Draco Malfoy.

At first, Harry tried to ignore the Slytherin by continuing to read, but sadly, the boy had other plans.

"Look at what we've got here...! Poor, non-prefect Potter is reading a magazine for loonies. Has the loss of that privilege hit you so hard?"

Harry just sighed, mentally memorising the page before closing the magazine.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" he asked, already tired of all this squabble. He knew, if he had lived his summer differently he would probably have jumped right into an argument, but as the things stood now he was bored of it. Why continue hating each other if ignoring would probably benefit both of them?

Malfoy himself seemed slightly startled about Harrys lack of response, but that didn't last long. "Loosing to Weasley must've been worse than I thought. But oh well, it wasn't _me_ who did _that_ bad. Shame that you still dare to come back to school."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm such an idiot. Finished yet? I'd like to continue reading."

Malfoys eyes widened. "You little...!"

He didn't finish his sentence, having drawn his wand. The only problem? Harry, Ron and Ginny had drawn their wands too and even though Malfoy had Crabbe and Goyle to back him up, they weren't the best duellists.

"Tch. I'd be careful if I were you. Unlike you, _I_'m prefect now and can give out detentions. I'll be watching you!"

With that, he turned on his heels, going back to wherever he came from, Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

Harry just shook his head as Hermione closed the door again. He briefly considered magically locking it, but then again, Malfoy probably wouldn't bother them again today. Thankfully.

Still, that little encounter had left some kind of impact, which ended in Ron and Ginny talking loudly about what an arrogant prat the Slytherin was.

Harry just wished they'd leave it alone, he guessed that Malfoy just liked to be the centre of attention and they were practically doing him a favour by talking endlessly about him. Of course, someone like Ron wouldn't think about that so Harry tried to continue reading without being dragged into that particular conversation every few minutes with something like "Malfoy's a nitwit, right, Harry?".

Surprisingly, Luna acted as his saviour. She had been quiet for a while now, choosing to observe instead of taking part in it - like a true Ravenclaw he guessed - but now, she chose to speak up again.

"How do you like the magazine?" she wondered quietly, just barely audible over the noise the Weasley siblings were making. He was still glad for the distraction and leaned over to her.

"Well... it's interesting, really, but I think that some of the facts are... a bit mixed up. Like that article about Sirius Black. You know that he was at Hogwarts in our third - or, well, your second - year, right?"

She shrugged. "I have heard about it, but I don't think anyone saw him. Dumbledore has been really vague and father thinks that vague people have many things to hide. That was what you did with Cho before, too, wasn't it?"

Harry looked at her, surprised that she had noticed. Cho didn't seem to find it all too weird, talking about her summer in France with her parents...

"Well... yes, but that's beside the point. You know, Sirius Black has really been in Hogwarts. I've seen him."

"Are you sure you haven't been manipulated by a Blibbering Humdinger? They're prone to do that to you sometimes, making you see strange things..."

"Um... no, I don't think I've been manipulated. I've talked to him," Harry explained after shortly collecting himself. These weird names were everywhere in the Quibbler, small articles about creatures he'd never heard of before. Most of them seemed to be fantasy, but with some he wasn't so sure. Who knew?

"Really? Oh, my father would surely be delighted to hear that. He's the editor, you know?"

Well, that probably explained her strong belief in these creatures. But anyway, as he was talking to Luna an idea sprung up in his mind.

"You know, If you'd like I could give you an interview some time in the future. About my thoughts on Sirius Black."

Her eyes seemed to get even wider than they normally were. "You would do that? Of course, there are a few other stories that need to get printed first... we're having a new lead on Wrackspurts and someone who claims to have seen a few Heliopaths within the ministry... but I'm sure we could do something about it around New Year's Day."

"Sounds good. Just tell me whenever you're free, alright?" Harry told her, grinning slightly as she nodded.

It was quite the plan he had in his mind and he really needed to elaborate it, but if he played his cards well there was a chance his godfather could be a free man again. If the Daily Prophet wouldn't listen he just needed to get creative...

ooo

The rest of the train ride was pretty uneventful, the worst thing happening was a small chaos that ensued as Ron and Hermione made their way outside for patrolling and Trevor got out of Nevilles hand, but as the toad stayed inside of the compartment the search didn't need long.

Harry had finished the Quibbler, even finding the reason why Luna had held the magazine upside-down - some runes that were told to have special effects if read that way - and given it back to her, before continuing his other book that he had gotten about halfway through before the train slowly came to a halt.

The six students departed, making their way to the carriages as they heard a female voice calling the first years instead of the known, deep voice of the castles gamekeeper.

"Hey, where's Hagrid?" Ron wondered aloud, voicing Harrys thoughts, who just shrugged.

"Maybe he's ill?" Hermione suggested, getting a frown from Ron.

"But that's Professor Grubbly-Plank, isn't it? If he was just ill, why should Dumbledore get her as a substitute?"

"Well... maybe it's something serious? We'll see soon, won't we?"

Ron nodded, though not seeming very happy about it.

Well, another thing to... more or less look forward to, now, wasn't it...?

* * *

**Yay, this chapter is on time again~  
Though I have to confess I hurried a bit to get it done today, so... feel free to point out any errors you may find.**

**Thanks again for all your wonderful reviews and of course, a thank you for the other people who like this story, too! Though I'm always incredibly happy if anyone voices his/her opinion to me, even if it's just a short 'I like it' :3 (Though longer reviews are, of course, very appreciated, too ;) )**

**Not very much happened in this chapter except for the whole train ride, but I got to introduce Luna! I absolutely love that character and I hope I've got her personality right... she's quiet difficult to write with her... special attitude. I love her anyway. :)  
The next chapter will finally solve the big mystery as to who the new teacher his (hint: I don't think you'll know them ;p) and - depending on how much space I'll need for that - there might even be a small part of Tom... so stay tuned!  
**

**Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling.**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	12. The new Teacher

**Chapter 12: The new Teacher**

As they got to the carriages there was another surprise waiting for Harry. Instead of just standing there as always, this year there were black, winged horses in front of them, ready to pull them all the way to the castle, it seemed.

Curious, he went closer to them, wondering what kind of creatures these horses were. They seemed slightly creepy as they looked almost skeletal, with white eyes that didn't seem to have pupils or anything. The wings were more leathery too.

"Mate, what're you doing, staring into nothing? Come on!" Ron called from inside the carriage, poking his head out of the open door.

"I'm just wondering why they're using horses this year..."

"Horses? What are you talking about?"

Harry raised his eyebrow, pointing at the winged horse.

"Well, _these_ horses. Hard to miss, aren't they?"

Ron still looked as if Harry had gone crazy and he realised that his best friend obviously couldn't see them. Or he was pulling his leg but he didn't think of Ron as such a good actor.

"I can see them too," Luna said dreamily, having followed them after leaving the train.

"Uh... me too..." Neville added quietly, looking nervously to the carriage as if fearing it would start without him. "I've always seen them, they're pulling the carriages every year..."

Harry stared at them. "Weird..."

They all climbed in as Harry continued thinking about it. What was the reason why Luna and Neville knew the horses, Ron didn't and he himself had only started seeing them this year...? He really needed to take a look into the library.

ooo

The rest of the ride was calm, they talked about this and that, but nothing of importance, except for a short argument about Hagrids teaching skills. While Luna argued that she and her fellow Ravenclaws never much liked the half giant as a teacher as he wasn't very competent, Ron and Ginny defended him rather rigorously.

Harry abstained from the argument, having probably the same idea as Hermione in mind, who stayed quiet too.

While Hagrid was a very nice person in private, brave and everything... he really hadn't been the best teacher as of yet. Harry remembered with horror the Blast-Ended Skrewts... And while it was good that Hagrid knew a lot of creatures since he worked as the gamekeeper too, his obsession for dangerous animals was... not a very positive trait for a teacher.

But the quarrel subsided soon, as Luna didn't bring a lot of arguments after her first one, opting to change the subject completely, asking Neville something about his _Mimbulus mimbletonia_ instead.

Because of that, they could peacefully enter the castle - though not without Harry looking back once more to the strange, bony horses - and follow the stream of students into the Great Hall.

Once there, Luna took her leave to the Ravenclaw table and Ginny vanished soon afterwards to her group of Gryffindor friends, leaving the trio and Neville to seat themselves on their usual seats.

It was probably a good thing that Gryffindor had no hierarchy of a sort, having students of all years mixed together somehow. Only the first years were still missing...

Not that a lot of people cared for the first years right now. Most of the students were already looking at the staff table, searching for the new teacher.

Only a few - like Ron - still commented on the lack of Hagrid, as his place was occupied by Professor Grubbly-Plank too, but most of the eyes were fixed on the person who sat next to Dumbledore.

It was a man, probably in his mid-thirties, with fair skin and dark brown hair that almost reached his shoulders, curling slightly. He looked alright, but Harry couldn't tell much more about him, he sat too far away for that. He _did_ sit near enough to Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown though, who where discussing the new teacher quite loudly. Harry just needed to listen in for a few seconds to get the idea.

"-looks soo handsome, doesn't he?"

"Absolutely! Let's just hope he's not a fraud like Lockhart has been...!"

Harry silently agreed with them, before concentrating on something else. He really didn't need to hear most of the conversations both girls were having when they came together, really.

Instead, he watched as Professor McGonagall brought in the stool together with the Sorting Hat, who soon began to sing his song, silencing everyone else with it. Harry was slightly surprised to hear that it held some kind of warning instead of only the usual introductions of the four houses, but then again it probably wasn't that surprising.

The hat stood in Dumbledores office. Dumbledore, who was one of the few people who knew that Voldemort was back. Of course the hat would think so too, then, and try to give everyone else a warning...

At least that was Harrys interpretation of it. Wasn't all too hard to come to that conclusion, considering there were quite a few new students to sort.

Of course, he politely clapped whenever a new Gryffindor was announced, but that didn't mean his attention was fully there.

Only after McGonagall had taken the stool away and Dumbledore himself stood up, Harry focused back onto what was happening. Because now came the important stuff.

"To our new students: Welcome to Hogwarts, and to all the other ones: Welcome back!" the headmaster began, smiling his grandfather-like smile, which Harry had grown to like so much over the years. Now, he was just focusing on what was said, rather than how he looked while doing it, wondering if there would be any manipulative intentions.

"While I know that you are probably very hungry, I need to capture your attention before your minds are clouded with food. But do not fret, I won't need long." He made a short pause as some of the students groaned, probably because they were already quite hungry or something, before continuing. "This year, I am pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will once more teach Care of Magical Creatures to all third-year or higher students who elected this subject."

Polite applause rang through the hall, especially so from the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables, while Gryffindor was less enthusiastic, already whispering in wonder where Hagrid might be, since his huge form was very obviously lacking at the staff table.

"Furthermore, I'd like to welcome Professor Pyrites, your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!"

This applause was slightly louder, but of course, everyone - except for the first years - still wondered if this teacher was any good and if he'd stay longer than one year.

Dumbledore proceeded with a few other things - like how the Forbidden Forest was off limits, the dates for the Quidditch Tryouts and so on - before he finished his little speech and allowed them to eat.

Much to the excitement of Ron, who hurriedly began to pile food on his plate as if it was the last meal he'd ever have.

Rolling their eyes simultaneously at his antics, Harry and Hermione filled up their plate much slower before eating the delicious food Hogwarts always had to offer.

ooo

As the clattering noise began to tune down a bit, signalling that most of the students were now full and had finished eating, Dumbledore rose again.

"Well, now that you are full and ready to listen again, Professor Pyrites wants to direct a few words at you," he explained, before making a gesture to said professor, who rose himself as Dumbledore sat back down.

"First of all, thank you, headmaster, for your words of welcome," Professor Pyrites began, looking at Dumbledore shortly before turning his eyes to the students, looking slightly lost as, surprisingly, many eyes were focused on him. "So... actually, the Ministry has provided me with a huge speech telling you how Hogwarts needs to be regulated and stuff... well... I forgot most of it anyway and I don't think even half of you would've listened. Instead, I just want to say that, even though I was sent here by the ministry, the most important thing to me is that you guys are able to learn whatever necessary to get through life. Oh, and probably through your exams, too, but I'll have to talk enough about _that_ later."

He sat back down again, smiling slightly as the students began to whisper with each other.

The Ministry? What had the new teacher to do with them? Had Dumbledore known? It was a good thing, then, that Professor Pyrites didn't seem to think too highly of the Ministry, wasn't it?

Harry himself didn't participate at all the chitchat, opting to study the teachers. No one up there seemed terribly surprised, so he guessed at least the staff had known, that the new professor had something to do with the ministry...

Well, Harry was pretty sure his first Defence class would be... interesting, at least.

As Dumbledore dismissed them, most students stood up at once, leaving the hall in one big, jumbled mess.

Harry turned to Ron and Hermione instead, remembering that, being prefects, they had to bring the first years upstairs.

"So... did you already get the password?"

Ron just looked at him, probably confused as to what he was talking about for a second, but Hermione answered him almost immediately.

"It's _Mimbulus mimbletonia_."

At this, Neville - who Harry had almost forgotten as he had been quiet most of the time - perked up.

"Really? That's brilliant! I'll finally be able to remember the password!"

He was still grinning to himself, cactus in his arms again, as Harry said his goodbyes to his friends and made his way to the common room with him.

Though he was pretty glad to move away from his friends right now as Ron had begun to shout "Over here, midgets!" which was followed by a stern lecture of Hermione.

He really didn't want to witness that.

Instead, he and Neville easily moved to the Gryffindor common room, ignoring the whispers that once more seemed to follow Harry through the corridors. The Daily Prophet was still writing rubbish about him, it seemed. He mostly skipped articles about him these days, focussing on other things instead if he read the newspaper at all, but... he seemingly was the only one who did that.

But well, he had survived multiple encounters with Voldemort, he'd survive this.

At least the common room seemed as warm and welcoming as always as the two boys made their way through it before arriving at their dormitory.

Harry pushed open the door, sending both Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan - who had obviously arrived before them - into silence.

Surprised, he looked at them.

"Did you just talk about Neville or me?" he asked directly. At least he guessed that much and honestly: If one of them had a problem with him - and that was more probable than having a problem with _Neville_ of all people - it was probably better to get it out of the way now instead of later.

"Well... indirectly, I guess," Dean answered after a short pause, looking uncomfortably to Seamus, who still looked surprisingly similar to a deer caught in the headlights.

"Let me guess: At least one of you believes the crap the Daily Prophet is spouting off, am I right?"

Now Seamus was turning slightly red. So it was him... Well, Harry could hardly blame him, they had never been really close and not once talked to each other since the end of fourth year.

"Look... I can't tell you what you should believe, I'd just like it if you could form your own opinion. I know the Daily Prophet likes to stir up hatred against me, but... well, since you know me in person, maybe we can get along. I promise I won't talk about Voldemort being back a lot..."

He snorted slightly after having said the last sentence. It just seemed so ridiculous, having to tell someone he wouldn't speak about something he'd probably not have on his mind most of the time anyway. Schoolwork wasn't easy, really.

"Uh... actually, it's mostly my mother..." Seamus explained, looking as if he wished to be anywhere but here. "She didn't even want to let me go back to school..."

Harry stared at him. "She didn't want you to come back because of _me_?" he asked, incredulous. "I mean... I've met your mother, she's nice... but honestly, why would she believe that I'm dangerous or anything...? Even _if_ I was lying, what would I get out of it? Negative attention? Great. And I'm still ignoring the fact that, officially, I never even voiced my opinion on everything. It was mostly Dumbledore who spoke to the Prophet."

By now, all three boys were staring at him.

"So... you don't think You-Know-Who is back...?", Dean asked, confused.

"I was just saying, that everyone should build their own opinion. It doesn't matter what I said, what Dumbledore said or anything. Think for yourself guys! Don't let you get manipulated by a bloody newspaper!"

With that, he crossed the room to his bed and let himself fall on it, before closing the curtains. Honestly, that talk had stressed him more than it should have. It was just Seamus... but somehow, he at least wanted the boys in his dormitory to know that he wasn't a bloody liar! He didn't care if they believed in Voldemorts return as it wouldn't change anything, but at least he himself wanted peaceful evenings without any hatred.

But for now, he stayed on his bed, applying a sticking charm to his curtains so that he would have his peace, waiting until the other boys had gone to sleep.

Of course, as Ron came back up from his prefect duties there was a small commotion again, as he wondered what had happened to Harry, but since no one seemed to want to explain it to him, he went to bed, being frustrated.

Harry was sure he'd get an earful the next morning... but he'd live.

ooo

After waiting for what felt like hours Harry could finally hear Rons loud snores and Nevilles softer ones. He had been incredible bored, having forgotten to take a book or anything with him, but finally, he could change into more comfortable clothes - meaning his pyjamas, though he really needed to get ones that fitted him and weren't old things of Dudley - and let Shiva go.

_"You can come out now,"_ he hissed softly, knowing that no one would eavesdrop now, which was the main reason for staying up for so long. He really wanted to talk to Shiva again.

The snake easily uncoiled from his body, making her way to his lap instead where she could properly look at him without being cold.

_"Finally. I still do not understand why you cannot simply tell them about me. It would make taking me with you so much easier,"_ she began and he sighed.

_"Look, I understand why you think that, but... talking with snakes is something most humans find... unsettling. Most of them already hate me right now and while I couldn't care less what the students think about me, the teachers would probably get suspicious too. And I need to improve my score this year, so I can't show you to anyone for now, alright?"_

_"If you say so... But don't blame it on me if anyone finds me, then. Humans are weird this way. Just like before. What was that strange ritual where the whole world seemed to vibrate?"_

Harry blinked confused for a second, before getting what she was talking about. _"You mean the Start-of-Term Feast? Don't worry, the whole clapping stuff won't be happening again for now."_ He was just now guiltily remembering that snakes might not have the best sense of hearing, but they were good with feeling vibrations in the ground. It had probably been quite stressful to feel him and the others clapping every few children... dammit.

_"Sorry, I'll remember that next time."_

She bowed her head slightly. _"Thank you."_

After that, he began telling her what else had happened the day - it wasn't very helpful being under a black robe, hearing things but not understanding them he guessed - and she listened patiently, only sometimes throwing in a short comment.

They talked until Harry grew really tired, after which he laid down, pulling his blanket up to his chin, with Shiva curling up next to him. They slept like this most of the time - Shiva was a very early riser, able to wake him before Ron got up to hide again - so Harry soon felt as protected as ever as sleep began to overtake him...

ooo

At the same time, Lucius Malfoy was just leaving his home - Malfoy Manor - behind to meet up with a certain Dark Lord.

His attendance had been specifically requested just about five minutes ago, so he had hurriedly made himself look presentable before kissing his wife goodbye.

He then turned on the spot, apparating from the safety of his manor to a little road inside of some Muggle forest.

He wasn't keyed into the anti-apparition wards of the residence of the Dark Lord - as far as he knew, no one was - so he had to walk the last few feet to the little manor that acted as their temporary headquarters.

It had belonged to some lonely old muggle before, who had had a strange fixation with collecting a lot of weird and so very _muggle_ instruments.

Still, since the Dark Lord was able to ignore them, Lucius did too and just knocked at the front door, standing tall and looking every bit a Malfoy should.

Mere seconds later, the door opened, revealing a small house elf that bowed slightly as it laid eyes on him.

"Master has been expecting you, sir. He is waiting in the parlour."

Without taking another look at the small creature the Lord of the Malfoy family strode past it, passing a few unused muggle rooms, to the parlour where the Dark Lord held most of his meetings.

He knocked at the door and, after a short "Come in.", entered the room before closing the door behind him. What greeted him was almost blinding, unnatural light. He didn't know why, but the parlour was illuminated by a weird muggle lamp that didn't work with fire but... something else.

He fell to one knee, looking at the wooden floor below him.

"My Lord."

"Rise...!"

With that, he stood up again, now looking at the Dark Lord though not meeting his eyes. As always these days, Lucius was... slightly disturbed by his appearance, looking even younger than the Malfoy himself though being much older. It was weird, even weirder than the snake-like form had been, and though he had seen his Lord like this often already he wondered if he would ever get accustomed to it.

Though now wasn't the time to think about things like that.

"You called...?"

The Dark Lord nodded from his position, sitting behind a wooden desk on a chair with a high backrest, looking almost... human.

"That I did. I was under the impression that your son - Draco, wasn't it? - has went to Hogwarts today. He is in the same year as Harry Potter as far as I am informed." he said slowly, looking calmly at Lucius, who got increasingly nervous. It was never a good thing if the Dark Lord began enquiring about your family.

"Yes, my Lord..."

"Very well. I need to talk to him, soon. I have a task for him. Oh _please_" he added, as he noticed Lucius flinching, even though it was only slightly. "it's nothing... _dangerous_. Really, if it was I would not request your son of all people."

The Malfoy bowed slightly. "Of course, my Lord. Should I send him a letter, informing him about your wish...?"

"No need for that. Just give me one of your family owls. I want it do be... a friendly surprise."

The Dark Lords lips curled upwards in a smirk and Lucius shivered.

But still, nothing could prepare him for the surprise he was about to feel, as suddenly, the lights went out.

In a flash, his wand was out, but the Dark Lord beat him to it.

"Lumos! _That man_, I swear, if I catch him only _one time_ playing with that muggle stuff he'll suffer!" he muttered, clearly aggravated, before pointing the tip of his wand at his throat. "Sonorus."

Thankfully, Lucius was quick-witted enough to cover his ears, as what followed next probably would have made him deaf.

"GREYBACK, TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON RIGHT NOW!" the Dark Lord bellowed, making sure it was heard in the whole house. Only seconds later, the light flickered and went on again.

Cancelling both spells he sat back down again - Lucius hadn't even noticed that he had stood up - taking a deep breath.

"Where were we? Ah, yes, Draco... just send your family owl to me the next time it will-"

A knock on the door caused him to stop talking once more. Flashing the door a murderous glance, he uttered a cold "Enter!", seemingly wanting to know who had dared to disturb him anyway.

A house elf entered, the same that had answered the door, looking terribly frightened.

"Libby is most sorry to disturb master, but master has told Libby to alert him if a certain eagle owl wants do deliver a letter..." she said, surprisingly coherent for having her nose almost touch the ground because of her deep bow.

She held out an owl - since this place was heavily warded, any owl coming here was first checked by this house elf - and Lucius blanched slightly. It was the owl of his son.

Of course, it wasn't that unusual for Draco to send him a letter on the first day of school, bemoaning this or that, mostly complaining about Potter and his friends, but... to get this letter just now... and, even worse, to have the Dark Lord order his house elves to _disturb_ him if Dracos owl came... it was a very, very bad sign.

"Well, well, well... I think our problem has just solved itself, hasn't it?" the other man said, a smirk replacing his previously angered features. "Bring me that letter, won't you, Lucius? I'm _very_ curious as to what your son might write you, this early in the year."

Forcing his hand to stay calm, he took the letter from the owl, before crossing the room to hand it to the Dark Lord with a small bow, stepping back afterwards.

The other man just continued smirking as he opened the letter deliberately slow, probably to see Lucius squirming a bit longer, before reading what Draco had written.

Another few minutes of silence passed between them and while the Dark Lords expression never changed, Lucius grew more and more nervous. He really hoped it was one of his sons... better letters. Sometimes he whined about things for _ages_, as if Lucius could do anything about it!

After what felt like forever, the Dark Lord looked up again, with a mostly neutral expression, but his lips curved slightly upwards.

"You may go now."

Lucius bowed again, just barely gathering enough courage to ask "My Lord, what about that letter...?"

The Dark Lord chuckled dryly, but it wasn't a friendly laugh.

"Do not worry, I will take care of it. Now go!"

"Of course, my Lord..."

He left the room before hurrying out of the manor. He had no idea what was in store for his son, he could only hope that he wouldn't be harmed.

Well, Narcissa certainly wouldn't be pleased. She'd probably insist to contact Severus right away.

And with a silent prayer that their combined wrath wouldn't be too bad, he disapparated just behind the end of the wards.

* * *

**Today, you'll get a slightly longer chapter than normal. :3  
Originally, I wanted the part with Lucius to be much shorter, but it just didn't work out that way and I didn't want to end the chapter before, so... yes.  
(But I'll probably revert to just about 3k words per chapter after this again)**

**I'm very happy that you still review so much and I absolutely love every one of it~  
(Though please, if you want to criticise anything: Go for it, but if possible log in first, otherwise I cannot answer you and maybe explain myself. The same goes for questions, as I'm using the PM System for answering.)  
Thank you for all favourites and follows, too!**

**Anyway... you finally got to meet the new teacher, Professor Pyrites! Like, Dislike, something else? ;)  
And there was a bit of Lucius' POV, too... don't worry, it won't be happening too often, but hey, you've gotten a scene with Tom and some funny stuff. Oh, the problems of wizards living in a muggle manor~  
(Special thanks to MadShinji for that, who's helping me with the plot sometimes, but insisted on being mentioned now ;) )  
The next chapter will feature the first few days of the year (since I'm going after the real calendar, it will be a weekend, so no classes yet, but... you'll see ;3)**

**(I just hope I'll finish it on time since I'll be in London this weekend [Warner Bros. Studio Tour, here I come!] and I'll return on Monday evening... but I'm still positive about it.)**

**Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling.**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	13. The Calm before the Storm

**Chapter 13: The Calm before the Storm**

The next morning, Harry awoke with a very strange dream fading out of his mind.

He didn't remember much, only... something about Voldemort and blackouts... he had no idea why he had dreamed such rubbish, maybe it had something to do with how he had talked about him with Seamus?

But it didn't matter, it probably wasn't a vision anyway since... honestly, Voldemort and electricity? Didn't seem to fit.

Instead, he sat up, searching his clothes to get into the bathroom, taking Shiva with him. It was early enough to assume that no one else was awake yet - Harry was glad he had had the whole summer to adjust to that new sleeping rhythm - but Shiva stayed in his clothes anyway.

Not a very long time after that he came back, fully dressed and Shiva around his body again. He let himself fall back on his bed and pulled one of the more... questionable books out of his trunk, before charming his curtains close again. No need to let anyone know what he was reading.

It wasn't a particular bad book, really, being called _The (not so) Dark Arts, or: The big prejudice of wizardkind_. He had found that book stuffed into some corner of the Black library and decided it was worth a shot.

Because honestly? Maybe a different view on the Dark Arts would do him good. Know your enemy and stuff, yes, but why not look into different aspects of Magic just out of interest?

Sadly, the library had not held any good books about Light Magic - though that had been predictable - but now that he was back at Hogwarts... he'd probably find something.

For now, he concentrated on reading the book in front of him, seating himself cross-legged on his bed, leaning his back against the wall. Even Shiva came out again, once more looking over his shoulder. He really needed to ask her how she was able to read if she couldn't understand spoken words, but that had to wait until he didn't need to fear someone waking up soon.

So the only sound that was heard for the next few hours or something was the quiet sound of pages being turned and the soft breaths of the sleeping boys.

Not that Harry could blame them, since the 2nd of September was a Saturday this year, of course the guys wanted to sleep longer than usual. He still occasionally looked at his watch as he really didn't want to miss breakfast. Especially so since Professor McGonagall would hand out the timetables then and he was honestly curious how his would be.

Thankfully someone finally woke up then, not speaking, but making enough noise to wake up the others and they started getting up.

Harry only sighed, bookmarking the page he had been on and closing his book, as Shiva returned back under his robe. He removed the charm from his curtains and opened them to put away his book, earning a surprised stare from Ron, who was just changing next to his bed.

"What?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Nothing... I just thought you'd still be asleep..." Ron mumbled, before shaking his head and continuing to dress.

Harry only shrugged, closing his trunk and sitting back on his bed, waiting until Ron was finished to go down to the common room with him.

He did wish the three other boys a good morning, but only Nevilles own was more or less cheerful. But well, Seamus had probably still a lot to think through and he had always been rather close to Dean, so Harry was fine with it.

He just followed the more or less normal morning routine, meeting up with the waiting Hermione, who was staring with furrowed brows at a note on the noticeboard right now.

It was an advertisement of Fred and George, who seemingly wanted testers for their newest products. Which sounded... not exactly harmless, but interesting nonetheless.

Of course, Hermione didn't think so, angrily stomping over to the twins, who sat in a corner of the common room, taking Ron with her.

Harry followed behind, listening with growing amusement as Hermione tried to reprimand Fred and George while Ron didn't want to be pulled into that whole thing - probably because he liked the idea too - and the twins only grinned at her, probably not finding her very intimidating.

"Come on Hermione, let them advertise it. They've clearly written that anyone who wants to test it is doing it at his own risk. And you know them, they're going a bit over the top sometimes, but they'd not seriously harm another student," Harry finally interjected calmly, looking at her.

She huffed. "But what if an accident happens and a student _will_ get harmed?"

"Oh come on, listen to Harry, Hermione!" George said - at least Harry believed it to be George.

"Yeah, we're practically harmless!", Fred added, though his grin didn't exactly match his words.

"Also, we're testing most of the stuff on ourselves, so the stuff we'll give other people is already regulated!"

Hermione crossed her arms, still looking a bit miffed. "Fine! But if I'll hear of any student who gets hurt because of you, I'll give you detention! And yes, a Slytherin is counting too!" she grumbled, having sealed the one loophole Fred and George seemed to have hoped for, judging from their fallen faces.

But they recovered soon. "Alright, we'll make sure you won't hear about them!"

Hermione just grumbled something under her breath before turning and striding towards the portrait hole, leaving Ron and Harry to follow her, the latter still chuckling slightly.

Honestly, it could be quite funny to watch Hermiones fury as long as it wasn't directed at yourself.

Still, he didn't comment at it so they reached the Great Hall in silence.

Neville and the others already sat there so the trio just went to him before helping themselves to a nice breakfast.

Just as McGonagall came along to pass them their timetables - Harry wondered absent-mindedly if she was running around doing that the whole time, since students came and went quite irregularly on weekends - the owls came in, most of them swooping down to their recipient immediately, though there weren't as many as usual. Probably because a few students had already left, their owls must've went directly to them.

As Harry was still looking up, searching for a certain eagle owl or maybe even Hedwig - after having paid the ministry owl delivering his newspaper, at least - Ron nudged him.

"Harry, look at Malfoy!" he said with a full mouth. Harry was glad he had known Ron for so long, otherwise he probably wouldn't even have understood his name.

He followed Rons gaze, only to see how said Slytherin held a letter in his hand, looking even paler than usual.

Ron swallowed, before continuing, grinning. "He looks as if someone has died."

"Ronald! You can't joke about something like that!" Hermione instantly reprimanded but he just rolled his eyes.

"Come on, as if one of _them_ would just drop dead. Honestly, maybe his father has just written him what an arrogant prat he is and now he's shocked. Right, Harry?"

Harry just gave a non-committal shrug, deciding to study his timetable instead. He wasn't so sure what to make of it but he liked to think himself more grown-up now, to not laugh about other peoples serious-looking miseries anymore.

Even if it was Malfoy.

Because honestly, there was no real reason behind their hatred except for hurt pride, and to hate someone for years because of that... it was childish, they really needed to stop that.

ooo

After breakfast they decided to look if there was still space at the Black Lake for them, seeing that the weather was quite nice for September. So they left the great hall and were nearly outside, as they almost ran into Professor Snape. Great.

"Mister Potter, what are you and your little _friends_ up to this time?" he asked, as if just waiting for a reason to take points away from them before the term had really begun.

"We were on our way to the lake, professor. Enjoying the last days of sunshine," Harry answered as calm as possible though his brain was flooded with different thoughts. It was Hermiones fault, really, with her bloody theory about how Snape might have written his letters. Now he couldn't help but wonder what Snape was thinking. If what he said was an act or if he still hated him.

"Were you...? Well, I'd suggest using the free time to learn for once. Maybe you and Weasley wouldn't fail brewing a simple potion _this_ year, then."

He passed the three of them with a sneer, luckily not noticing how he had struck a nerve with Harry, who was seething right now, just barely refraining from saying something that would have probably given him detention.

But he restrained himself, wanting to try and get through a year without too much detentions... He really needed to learn holding his tongue.

And for that, Snape really was great practice.

They continued their path down to the lake, the fresh air cooling Harry temper for the time being - though Ron, who had begun ranting about Snape the second said man was out of earshot, and Hermione, who had been sending him meaningful looks since Snape had talked about staying inside, didn't really help.

They sat down between a group of Ravenclaw girls and one consisting of two guys from Hufflepuff and Slytherin, talking about this and that, mostly about what Hagrid might be doing if he wasn't at school. Though Hermiones theory that he was still on that task Dumbledore had given him back in June seemed to be the most probable.

All in all, it was nice to be back at Hogwarts, especially so since this would be one of their last peaceful days until their O.W.L. Exams...

Not even Malfoy could ruin that, who was now sitting at the lake too, together with his Slytherin cronies, looking considerably better than he had during breakfast. Thankfully, he had chosen not to come over, so for now, everything was fine.

Harry had just laid down to relax a bit as he noticed the shadow of a bird in the sky becoming bigger and bigger.

Confused, he sat up again, only to notice Quetzalcoatl swooping down, gracefully landing next to him in the soft grass.

"Hey there," he said, smiling at the eagle owl while taking the letter from him. Even though he had just been angry at Snape, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of information might be included this time. Slowly, he ran his hand through the soft feathers, looking curiously at the parchment.

_Harry,  
Did you know that, during his time as a head boy, Lucius Malfoy once got his hair turned permanently pink? If Madame Pomfrey had not found an antidote in time, even Draco might have inherited it.  
Regards_

Harry couldn't help but grin as the image of a pink haired Draco entered his mind. Chuckling slightly, he gave the letter to Ron and Hermione, who read it while Quetzalcoatl spread his wings and took off again.

Only seconds later Ron roared with laughter and even Hermione couldn't help but smile slightly.

Really, a pink haired Malfoy would have been hilarious... he definitely needed to give the Weasley twins a hint... it would be a brilliant stunt.

Though as he looked over to the small group of Slytherins for a second, he was surprised to find most of them staring back, looking... almost flabbergasted.

What was their problem anyway? He raised an eyebrow, staring back at them and finally they seemed to have collected themselves, hurriedly looking away, starting to talk among themselves.

Whatever they had wanted to play at, it seemingly hadn't worked. Ron was still laughing, obviously getting a kick out of imagining that scenario.

Unlike Hermione, who had already gotten that knowing look back on her face, leaning over Ron, who by now lay in the grass.

"You know, maybe the author of this letter was in Hogwarts during Lucius Malfoys last year...?" she hinted, quietly.

Harry just rolled his eyes, knowing she wanted to convince him that it was Snape again - yes, there was a possibility that Snape and Malfoys father went to school together - but Ron seemingly had calmed down enough to hear at least part of it and bolted upright, almost toppling over Hermione with that move, but looking wide-eyed at Harry.

"Imagine if your admirer is almost as old as Malfoys father!" He made a face. "That would be too old for you...!" Then, he looked back at the letter. "But really, if you ask me it's a girl from somewhere around here. She probably knows about your feud with Malfoy and thought that up to amuse you!" He nodded, seemingly convinced of his own theory, probably because the idea of a middle-aged woman asking out Harry would creep out anyone.

Harry just chuckled, sure it was neither, but didn't comment on it. Instead, he pocketed the letter to add it to the other ones in his trunk.

Which reminded him... he really needed to go look for a new trunk too, preferably one with secret compartments. He needed a safe place for his letters, as well as his more questionable books. He'd watch out for anything as soon as the next Hogsmeade weekend would be announced. For now, he could simply enjoy the son and his mental image of a pink-haired Draco Malfoy.

That sounded like a good idea.

ooo

The rest of the weekend passed without major problems. He had escaped his two friends for a quick visit to the library Saturday evening - a visit that had needed more time than he had assumed, but after which he finally understood that the winged horses that had pulled the carriages were called Thestrals and could only be seen if you had seen death.

Also, he had borrowed a few books on Light Magic for later use, getting a stern look from Madame Pince that clearly told him 'Don't you dare returning these books in a less than perfect condition', and had told Ron what had happened between Seamus and him.

Sunday afternoon he had asked Ron to keep watch for other Gryffindors to enter their dormitory as he had unpacked Sirius' present and tried talking to him through that mirror.

It had been a fun hour before Ron had to interrupt them as Dean seemingly needed something from his trunk.

But it didn't matter, Harrys mood stayed high for the rest of the day and it got even better as Malfoys hair suddenly turned pink in the middle of supper.

Of course, it was not that funny anymore as Professor McGonagall came to their table, giving the twins two detentions each, but her eyes were not as stern as they should be. The twins thanked Harry for that brilliant idea anyway.

With this, the Sunday drew to a close and Harry sat once more on his bed, book in hand this time, and read the last pages of his book together with Shiva as he waited for the other guys to fall asleep.

It was weird, really, how he had practically devoured that book, but it turned out that the title hadn't just been chosen to grab one's attention. The author had been able to prove his claim and now Harry wanted to know more about it.

The book had showed him that there was more to Dark Magic than torturing or killing. That there actually was a "good" side of Dark Magic, too. It was said that there were spells and rituals that were sometimes very complex or required things you could not legally buy anymore, but at other times fairly easy but still classified as "Dark" by the ministry, that could do good things.

Heck, Harry had found a bloody healing spell in that book!

But the author was probably right... Renowned healers couldn't use Dark Magic to heal as that would be outrageous. And Dark Wizards normally focused on destroying instead of building, not even using their magic to it's full extend, simply because no one would want to go to a Dark Wizard to get _healed_.

There even had been a few hints that this kind of magic - in contrast to Neutral and Light Magic - could heal wounds that originated from a Dark spell, since their cores were the same.

It was... enlightening, really, and Harry pondered on it for quite a while before sleep could snatch his attention away.

As Shiva woke him the next morning, he had decided on it. He would spend his free time usefully, studying all three brands of magic. He wouldn't use any of it to harm someone, but the idea to miss out on such a big part of knowledge... No, for once, he wanted to do something without having to fear any kind of public backlash. And if he needed to do things in secret to achieve that, he'd do so.

This once, Harry Potter would not be a puppet in the game of grown ups. He was a teenager and he should be allowed to make mistakes. And if wanting to study every aspect of magic would prove as a mistake, fine. He'd learn his lesson, then.

* * *

**So... I'm back from London and have another chapter ready for you. I hope you'll like it! :3 (though it's slightly shorter again, as I said)  
**

**A big thank you for all reviewers, favourites and followers!**

**So... as I've already announced, we now had a little... interlude, seeing what happens if the school year begins with a weekend ;p  
Hope you liked it anyway, what do you think about a pink-haired Draco? Or do you prefer pink-haired Lucius? *grin*  
(Sorry, I kind of like teasing the Malfoys, they're so much fun xD")  
The next chapter will finally introduce the new curriculum for Defence Against the Dark Arts! (hopefully *cough*)**

**And... since I had a bit of time, flying to and from London, I've tried to look over the older chapters, looking for errors, changing a bit of the wording and stuff... nothing major though, don't worry. It's mostly to clear up a few inconsistencies and so on... oh, and I finally added symbols for timeskips and stuff (namely 'ooo'), just for your information. ;)  
(I'm still searching for a beta reader by the way, so if one of you would like to correct my mistakes, especially grammar and commas... feel free to PM me :3)  
**

**Harry Potter doesn't belong to me but to J. K. Rowling.**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	14. Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Chapter 14: Defence Against the Dark Arts**

The day progressed horribly slow.

They had started with History of Magic, probably the most boring subject ever invented, though mostly because of their teacher. Professor Binns did not seem to be able to convey any emotions and droning on and on about giant wars wasn't exactly interesting.

Sadly, Harrys resolution to try and _learn_ things included this subject so he forced himself to listen and take notes while trying not to get distracted by anything.

It was probably the worst class he ever had, including Divination, but he survived it just barely, with notes that made both of his friends stare at him as if he'd gone crazy.

"Since when do _you_ take notes in Binns classes?" Ron asked incredulously after they went down to the dungeons, since they had potions next. "You didn't even _talk_ with me!"

"Sorry Ron, but since the OWLs are coming up and everything... I thought it might help. And if I can memorise it that homework we've gotten is only half as hard."

Ron just stared at him as if he had gone mad - well, maybe he had, at least a little bit? - but he got an approving nod from Hermione.

"That's the spirit, Harry." She then turned to Ron. "You see, even _Harry_ has understood that learning is important! Try that too, won't you?"

"Hey, what do you mean 'even _I_'?" Harry protested and the three of them continued bickering until they had taken their seats inside of the potions classroom.

The following lesson was almost as strenuous as History of Magic had been. Sure, Snape wasn't talking a lot, since they were requested to brew a quite complicated potion - the Draught of Peace - but the concentration needed was a lot and Harry was determined to not make any mistakes.

ooo

At the end of the lesson, Harry took a deep breath, a thin layer of sweat covering his face due to the heat of the flames under his cauldron as well as all of the multicoloured fumes.

The potion was said to emit a silvery vapour by now and Hermiones seemed to do just that, causing Snape to pass her without any comment. So he probably didn't have a reason to criticise her.

Many students had various problems with their potions though, Rons was shooting green sparks and Nevilles looked as if he had tried to mix cement.

Nervously, Harry looked at his own potion as Snape walked to him, already with a look on his face that made clear he was just waiting to humiliate him. It did emit some silvery mist, but it was much darker than Hermiones.

Still, the face of his potions professor as he took a look into Harrys cauldron was priceless.

"It seems as if you actually were able to read the instructions this time, Potter," he said, though clearly disappointed. It didn't last long, though. "Well, it _was_ a very simple potion."

He passed his place, but turned around once more after a few steps, a small smirk back in place.

"Five points from Gryffindor for getting help from Miss Granger. I said you should work alone."

With that, he went to the Slytherin side of the room, leaving Harry to exhale frustratedly, but not commenting on it. It could have been worse. At least he could fill up a vial of his potion to turn in, guessing that it wouldn't be too bad as Snape hadn't said anything about it.

What followed was lunch hour which was pretty uneventful, just like Divination afterwards. The latter was incredibly boring, yes, even though the idea of interpreting ones dreams sounded vaguely interesting, but nothing much happened anyway.

No, the really interesting part came after Divination, since they had Defence Against the Dark Arts now. A double period, even.

Curious, the whole class, consisting of Gryffindor and - of course - Slytherin students, sat at the tables, awaiting Professor Pyrites' entrance.

ooo

He turned up about two minutes after class should have started, looking slightly dishevelled.

"Sorry, some urgent business was delaying me, I missed the stairs..." he explained, grinning embarrassedly. A few girls giggled and some students looked sceptically at him, as he straightened himself and his clothes before clearing his throat.

"So... to begin the lesson... Welcome to 'Defence Against the Dark Arts'," he said, putting the name of his subjects in air quotes. "I'm sure you're having a few questions before we start, judging from your expressions. Shoot!"

Immediately, quite a few hands went up. Professor Pyrites looked around for a second, before pointing at Parvati. "Yes, Miss -?"

"Patil, sir," she said, smiling broadly. "Could you tell us something about you...?"

He looked surprised for a moment, before chuckling.

"Not the question I would have expected, but alright." He looked at the class. "My name's Aquila Pyrites, I'm too old for you-" He was looking at the girls now, who blushed, looking down. "-and I have been a Ravenclaw student once. I always liked Defence but not the way it was taught here. That's why I went to the Ministry, to see if I could improve the education for future students. And... well, I guess I've had success somehow, they _did_ sent me to teach you."

As he talked he had an easy smile on his face, having taken a seat on the teachers table.

"Other questions? Yes, Mr. -?"

"Thomas. You said you're from the Ministry... Why did _they_ sent you, what about Dumbledore?" Dean asked, voicing the thoughts of most other students, Harrys included.

"Good question, Mr. Thomas. Though I'm not sure if I can answer it completely. I do know that the Ministry has very recently established a law that says they might appoint a teacher if the headmaster of a school cannot find someone in time. So my best guess is that Dumbledore didn't found a teacher himself which led to me being appointed by the Ministry," Professor Pyrites explained, not looking too sad about the whole matter. "I've actually been sent to see how the education of the student works, too - sure, I've also been a student here once, but... you know, curricula can change. Don't worry though, it shouldn't be too bad. Just some observing, asking questions and stuff."

"Are they allowed to do that?" Seamus wondered aloud, sounding surprised.

"What's your name?" Professor Pyrites asked.

"Seamus Finnigan."

"Well Mr. Finnigan, the Ministry does have a certain power over Hogwarts, since it should be their job to ensure the students are well-educated. Of course, that power can be misused, but... I'll try to act on behalf of the students."

Seamus looked slightly impressed but stayed silent, giving Professor Pyrites enough time to call up another student. This time, it came from the Slytherin part of the room.

"Why did you put 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' in air quotes as you introduced yourself? The name's Blaise Zabini."

At this, the teacher seemed to ponder for a while as if he didn't know how to answer that question.

"That is also a very good question, Mr. Zabini. The easiest way to answer it is probably to show you."

He hopped of the table and drew his wand. He turned to an empty spot and conjured a straw doll out of nowhere.

"Imagine if this is a human being." He waved his wand again and robes appeared, making the straw doll look slightly more like a wizard. "And now... _Diffindo_." He pointed his wand at the puppet, the spell going straight through its body, leaving a big cut in the middle of it. "Sure, a real human being isn't a straw doll, but a well-aimed _Diffindo_ still bloody hurts. Also... _Incendio_." Immediately, the puppets robe caught fire and soon, the straw was burning nicely, illuminating Professor Pyrite face from the side as he turned back to the class.

"As you can see, these spells were very simple, Neutral ones. They are taught to first-years and no one ever thinks about how dangerous they can be if used with ill intent. Actually, you can hurt a person with almost every spell. So why did they call this class 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' if it is way more probable to encounter someone who wishes you ill and isn't able to cast Dark spells?"

He looked questioningly at the students, but no one talked.

"Exactly. So... while I do think it's important to be able to defend yourself against the Dark Arts, it is just as important to defend yourself against any other spell, hence my dislike against the name of this class. Why not just 'Defence'?"

The stunned silence continued and Professor Pyrites just shook his head before vanishing the meagre remains of the straw doll.

"Anyway, I think that's enough for now. I'll just give you a short version of what I've planned for this year - which, mind you, isn't much since the Ministry actually appointed me on a very short notice - before you can do something more practical."

He was now completely concentrating on the students again. "We'll start off with repeating older spells, testing your knowledge and stuff. The OWL exams will probably feature quite a few practical spells and I want you to be roughly on the same level for that. Afterwards, we'll begin talking about wards. Warding is quite difficult but as fifth-years, you should at least be able to do some easy muggle-repelling charms and, depending on your natural affinity of the subject, maybe you'll even be able to cast anti-owl wards. And at the end of the year we'll probably look more closely into what kind of theoretical stuff will be tested on your exams. But if you get the practical stuff I'm sure you'll do fine."

ooo

Harrys opinion on the matter? He thought the teacher was bloody brilliant! Sure, he hadn't seen much practical competence yet, but he definitely already liked the mindset of his professor. Because he had come to the same conclusion once: Almost all magic could be dangerous if the caster wanted it to be. Sure, he was pretty sure that many Dark spells had been created to hurt, making using them for friendly purposes was difficult, but he knew by now that not everything was bad about the Dark Arts, so... he liked Professor Pyrites' point of view.

After that much talking, the teacher finally motioned for them to get up, putting the tables out of the way with a flick of his wand. Soon, the students were gathered in the middle classroom, with Professor Pyrites standing in front of them.

"Alright guys, first spell: _Expelliarmus_. Does anyone of you not know how it's casted?" he asked, looking cheerfully around as no one raised his hand. A few people grimaced, though Harry wasn't sure if that was because of the spell itself that, admittedly, was pretty easy or because of a certain memory of the first and only lesson of their 'Duelling Club' back in their second year. "Doesn't matter, I will demonstrate it anyway. Any volunteers?"

As Harry looked around, no one seemed very eager to do so. Well, it was kind of understandable, who wanted to show a weakness in front of the house they disliked most?

It was only seconds before Harry had wanted to raise his hand that he heard Draco Malfoy not-so-quietly whispering something to one of his cronies.

"Who does he think we are, first-years? As if an _Expelliarmus_ is any help in a real fight."

Surprisingly - or maybe not so much - that brought him more attention that he probably would have liked as Professor Pyrites turned to him.

"So, Mr. Malfoy seemingly wants to volunteer," he said, still smiling happily. "Your name _is_ Malfoy, isn't it? Lucius Malfoy is a well-known face in the Ministry and you are looking strikingly familiar to him."

Malfoys face contained a mixture of horror, pride and frustration for about half a second, before he caught himself and nodded, haughtily walking up to their professor.

"Great. Now, first of all, the wand movement." He turned sideways, showing all of them the correct wand movement in slow-motion. "You probably knew it anyway, but to see it one more time can't hurt. Of course, to cast it you have to be a bit quicker." He looked at Malfoy. "Mr. Malfoy, as you seem to doubt my abilities, how about a little duel?"

Malfoy began to protest - rightly so, a teacher knew a larger variety of spells which wasn't very fair - but Professor Pyrites interrupted him soon. "Of course, I'm not talking about a real duel. Quite the opposite, I will use that to show you what you can do with _Expelliarmus_. Feel free to use any spell you know, Mr. Malfoy, while I will stick to the Disarming Charm. Not even a shield charm, only _Expelliarmus_. What do you say?"

The offer sounded easy enough... Especially so, since Malfoy could protect himself with a Shield Charm while their teacher could not. But Harry was sure that there had to be a catch, even though Hermione whispered frantically about it being a very bad idea as Professor Pyrites should not duel with students, especially not with Draco Malfoy.

"Alright." Was the word that sealed Malfoys fate and the two more-or-less duellists soon stood in front of each other in the middle of the classroom, both looking surprisingly serious. The rest of the students were watching from the sidelines, wondering what would happen.

And dammit, the teacher knew what he was doing.

The second Professor Pyrites had counted to three Malfoy had thrown up a shield before shooting a variety of spells at his teacher. This actually surprised Harry to an extend, though it was probably only natural that the youngest Malfoy wanted to prove his worth to... whomever. It would be quite a feat to win against a teacher, especially so if said teacher taught Defence Against the Dark Arts.

But did Malfoy really think it was _that_ easy?

While he fired spell after spell, Professor Pyrites seemed to be quite content with dodging them for now. He seemed to be a true expert regarding that as he easily side-stepped every single blow of his opponent, which got Malfoy increasingly frustrated. Which worsened his aim even more and so on. It was like a vicious cycle that went on for about two minutes, before their teacher raised his wand for the first time after having ducked under a particularly vicious cast Stunning Spell.

"_Expelliarmus_!"

The red beam of light shot straight at Malfoy, crushing his shield as he had obviously forgotten to focus on maintaining it, thus weakening it enough for the spell to come through.

About one second later Malfoy was left looking dumbstruck at their teacher, who held two wands in his hands.

Well, that had been... interesting, at least.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Professor Pyrites announced, now smiling again before giving Malfoy back his wand. "I am sure you have understood by now that Disarming Charms are actually pretty useful. Especially so if your opponent doesn't want to kill you. And it is more probable to face someone in an official duel - in which making your opponent drop their wand is the actual _purpose_ of it - than fighting a duel to the death. Though without a wand, your enemy can't attack anyway so it's always a good idea to know how to disarm someone." He turned to the other students. "Any more questions?"

No one said anything. "Great, so then let's form groups of two to practice the spell. Just search yourselves a free spot and start practising, I'll take a look at your skills once I've had a word with Mr. Malfoy here. There are a few things you can learn with every duel you have."

He then turned to Malfoy, leaving the rest of the class staring stupidly at each other for a second, before chaos erupted as everyone tried to partner with his or her best friend.

Ron and Hermione both looked at Harry questioningly, probably unsure of how to form pairs as they were three, but he motioned for them to partner with each other, making his way to Neville instead.

The boy was staring into nothing, looking somewhat lonely just standing there, probably because most of the time no one wanted to have him as a partner.

"Hey Neville, care to join me?" Harry asked, smiling at him, who looked surprised.

"Uh... don't you want to partner with someone... useful?" he mumbled, looking somewhere else.

"Well, I'm doing just that, aren't I?" Harry met Nevilles stare with a wink, before getting serious again. "Honestly, you need to get a little bit more confident. You're a genius herbologist, why should that be your only talent? Let's just practise for a bit, alright?"

Neville shrugged helplessly and they moved into position. On the count of three, they began casting, though Harry was way faster, easily disarming the poor boy.

He summoned Nevilles wand and gave it back to him. "How about you simply try to disarm me?" He knew that he was quite good at disarming other people - hell, _Expelliarmus_ had already saved his life! - so it probably wouldn't do to take turns.

But with only Neville casting he could try to analyse _why_ it didn't work and the worst thing happening to him was a small shudder and his hair standing on end. Actually, it was a very easy problem, one he could relate to as he had done so too in the beginning.

"Your hand movements are too sweeping. Try it a bit smaller, like this." He pointed his wand at Hermione, who was waiting for Ron to retrieve his wand somewhere in the classroom and disarmed her, making sure that Neville could see his wand movement.

Surprised, she whirled around and while her face was priceless for a few seconds it turned into a frown shortly afterwards.

Harry only smiled sweetly at her before looking back to Neville. "Want to try it again?"

He got a nod and they continued their training.

ooo

It wasn't until the time was almost up and Harry had given a few more hints that finally, his wand flew out of his hands, landing somewhere behind them.

Both Harry and Neville stared surprised at each other for a second, before grinning.

"I did it! For the first time, I did it!" Neville exclaimed happily as Harry clapped him on the shoulder. "Congratulations!"

Though their excitement was cut short as Professor Pyrites stepped on a table, casting a quick _Sonorus_ to get their attention.

"Alright, enough for today!" he called, before cancelling the amplifying spell again as the last shouts of _Expelliarmus_ rang through the room.

"Soo... while I haven't been able to look at all of your performances, I _did _see that whoever taught you that spell probably wasn't the most... effective teacher. But most of you seemed to have grasped the concept of the spell by now, I guess it won't need as long to get the rest of you to get it, too. Afterwards we can proceed with another spell." Suddenly, his smile changed slightly, almost into a smirk, as if he'd just gotten a brilliant idea. "You know, to prevent further... complaints about spells, how about suggestion the ones you'd want to learn about? Homework: Write.. let's say... at least six inches about any spell you'd like me to let you practise. The only important thing is that it can be used in duels _or_ in Defence in general. Write about what it does, how it's cast and why you think it should be covered. The more and the better you write, the more probable it is that I will use your suggestion. Have fun!"

With that, he hopped from his table and went to repair a few thing inside of the room that had gotten damaged by stray Disarming Spells, leaving the class to stare at each other in wonder.

That didn't last long though and soon everyone moved again to leave the room.

Harry went to retrieve his wand that still laid somewhere behind him as most of the others made their way outside.

"Mr. Potter, one word..."

Harry looked up to his professor questioningly. He didn't need to ask how he'd been recognized, it was fairly easy anyway. "Yes...?"

Professor Pyrites held his wand out to him, looking fairly amused.

"It was quite entertaining to see you disarm one of your friends through half of the room, and nice to know that you are able to do it, but please try to keep it to your partner - or at least out of my sight - alright?"

He winked as Harry felt his face grow hot. He hadn't thought about checking if he was being watched. "Of course..."

The man smiled. "Great! Now off you go, I'm sure you already have massive amounts of homework to do."

Harry nodded once and hurried back to his things, which he hurriedly grabbed to leave, wand still in hand.

Well, he certainly needed to watch out as his Defence teacher was more perceptive than he seemed.

* * *

**There we have the newest chapter and _finally_ a bit more of Pyrites!  
Quite the weird teacher, isn't he? But at least he's competent ;p  
**

**Right now, I'm actually not very sure how to proceed with the story (oh I'm having a whole lot of ideas, but I can't implement most of them as of yet since they'll need more _time)_ but... well, I'll see what I can do! (suggestions are lovely as always *hint hint* ;p)**

**Thank you all as always for every reviewer, favourite and follower I get. I'm still incredibly happy for every email I get, announcing some activity! ;)  
**

**Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling. (...do I honestly _need_ to put that disclaimer after every chapter? oO I've seen people do that quite a lot, but on German ff-archives almost no one does that, since it's obvious they don't own the original *cough*)  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	15. Time to think

**Chapter 15: Time to think**

The rest of the week was just as different for Harry as the Monday had been. Really, his decision to learn had influenced his... experience in school stronger than he would have thought. The simple fact that he now understood what was going on instead of struggling with the easiest theories helped greatly, of course. But it also was really fun, practising new spells. And the face of McGonagall as Harry managed to cast the Vanishing Charm they had tried to do in Transfiguration on Tuesday only minutes after Hermione? It was worth everything.

Though of course, not everything was that funny. There were loads of homework in every subject and each teacher reminded them that the OWL exams were coming up this year and that they needed to work hard. But as Harry sat together with his two friends in the Gryffindor common room - with Neville sometimes joining them as Harry had decided to invite him over after seeing his distraught face - even Homework was bearable. Especially at these rare times when he could outsmart Hermione for once.

Only Ron didn't seem all too happy with the current situation. It was only logical, since Harry had always been the one who didn't care about school either, but now, with him working about as efficiently as Hermione, it probably took a lot of fun out of everything for the redhead.

Harry tried to appease him with chess games after they had finished homework but he wasn't a real challenge for Ron as he was still pretty bad so it probably didn't work all too well.

His dream diary was pretty much useless too as he didn't remember his dreams often and if he did, it was either completely trivial stuff or the occasional nightmare. And he wanted to share neither with Professor Trelawney.

The worst thing was still potions though, because Snapes hate was still as bad as ever. Harry had turned in his essay about the properties and uses of moonstone which was three inches longer than necessary (though still shorter than Hermiones, however she had managed to write so much) and even finished the potion they had to brew on time, but the only thing happening was that Snape took points from him _again_, telling him to sit in the Slytherin part of the class at Monday, because he had seemingly managed to cheat twice in a row directly under Snapes nose.

And how he had wished to tell his potions professor that, but he didn't want to spend the weekend scrubbing cauldrons.

At least Defence on Friday had been a glimmer of light. After handing in their homework - Harry had soon decided to write about the Patronus Charm, simply because it was one of the spells he could do best, and had gone slightly overboard with it, having written about twice as much as needed - they returned to practise the Disarming Charm. Neville was progressing much faster now and even managed to disarm Harry as Professor Pyrites came to watch which was followed by an approving nod of their teacher.

Afterwards they began with the Impediment Jinx at which Ron just groaned. After a quick consultation the trio had each chosen a different spell and the redhead had taken _Impedimenta_. While it wasn't all too bad it meant that if Professor pyrites read their essays he would probably expect Ron to do well in class. And that meant actually working.

Though Defence was one of Rons better classes, so he'd live. Especially so since even Neville practised with newfound vigour after having managed the Disarming Charm.

That afternoon, Quidditch tryouts were held and even though Harry felt that Qudditch would kill even more of the little freetime he had, Angelina would probably kill _him_ if he didn't show up. So he went and got his usual position back easily. Also, he was pretty sure it had been the right decision, as flying always ceased his worries.

Shiva declared she never wanted to do things like that ever again though, which meant he would need to leave her somewhere safe during practises. But he'd work something out.

ooo

The rest of Friday evening, as well as most of the next day were used for homework and after Harry had finished that he had quite a few schoolbooks to read.

Ron called him a nerd for that while Hermione praised his efforts and told Ron to be more like him, which resulted in another one of their typical quarrels and Harry leaving the common room to get a little bit of peace. Really, with both of them always arguing it was no wonder he sometimes felt as if he was going crazy!

He really needed a room to think, somewhere he could be without anyone disturbing him...

Then it hit him. Dobby was working at Hogwarts now, wasn't he? And the Hogwarts house-elves cleaned the whole castle as far as he knew. So... if anyone knew a place where one could be alone it would be them. And he had a good idea where Dobby might be at this time of the day, it was just after lunch right now.

He walked through the castle, his next destination clearly in mind. The kitchens. In fact, his mind was so full of that thought that he didn't really look where he was going. Which worked fine, as the corridors weren't very full, until he was at the ground floor, colliding painfully with someone who had decided to walk around that bloody corner just at the same time as Harry did, only into the other direction.

"Watch where you're going, idi-"

The voice stopped just as Harry realised who he had ran into.

Draco Malfoy. Of course. And even without his cronies today.

But surprisingly, the other boy just stared at him wide-eyed for another second, before stepping sideways and hurrying further down the hall, leaving Harry to wonder if Malfoy was just acting cowardly since Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere to be seen or if there was something weird going on...

He shook his head. It wasn't important right now, he should just go to the kitchens. It's not as if they were that far away anymore.

He went to the fruit painting, tickling the pear after having made sure no one else was watching - he wasn't sure if students were allowed to go to the kitchens, even though the house-elves always were very friendly - and entering the kitchens without any problems.

It was... weird, to say the least, to walk into that huge room alone, especially so since he captured the attention of most of the house-elves instantly. A lot of bowing and curtsying followed and Harry nodded to the little creatures before looking for Dobby.

He didn't need to search.

"Harry Potter, sir!"

The elf was already hugging him, mumbling things about how happy he was that Harry came to visit him. He looked almost the same as he had last year, the only difference was that he wore different clothes. But he still seemed very happy.

"Hey Dobby," Harry said, smiling down at Dobby as he finally let go.

"Does Harry Potter want tea?"

"Uh... sure." Instantly, a few house-elves trotted over, bringing a tablet with tea and biscuits. Harry thanked them - sending them into fits of whispering to each other - and took a sip of his tea, before continuing. "Look, I came to ask you something I have been wondering about..."

"Harry Potter sir may ask whatever he wants, Dobby will do anything he can to answer!"

Dobby bowed low, making Harry feel uncomfortable, but he asked anyway.

"So... you're cleaning the whole castle, aren't you? I mean, the house-elves in general..." Harry began and Dobby nodded. "Do you know a place where one can think? Maybe some quiet corner, a secret passage or anything, somewhere not many people know of..."

Dobby pondered at that for a bit.

"Well, if Harry Potter wants his peace... he could stay in one of the lesser used secret passageways. Or..." Dobby looked around, as if wondering if he should say more. "Well, if Harry Potter sir wants to be very alone, there would be a special room..."

Harry frowned. "A special room?"

"We house-elves call it the Come and Go Room. Or sometimes the Room of Requirement. If Harry Potter wants, Dobby can show him!"

Harry blinked. Come and Go Room? He had never heard of it before and he had studied the Marauders Map for quite a while already. So he did the only logical thing: He nodded.

"That would be nice."

Dobby squeaked happily. "Dobby will show Harry Potter, sir!"

He walked to the door and Harry drank his remaining tea and grabbed two biscuits, before thanking the elves and following Dobby.

ooo

It was a short walk, especially so since Dobby led him through a few secret passages Harry himself had almost forgotten about, and they soon reached their destination. At least Harry guessed it was, since Dobby suddenly stopped walking, telling him "There we are!".

Confused, Harry looked around. He vaguely knew where they were, it was the seventh floor if he remembered the location of that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy who tried to teach trolls ballet correctly. But he couldn't see any doorway.

"Are you sure this is the right place...?" he wondered aloud, earning another big nod from Dobby.

"Yes, sir. This is the place, but the room isn't there yet. It only comes if someone needs it. To make it appear a person needs to walk past this tapestry three times, thinking about what he wishes to have. The room will appear then, looking just the way it has been asked."

Harry stared at the elf. Honestly? But oh well, he had nothing to loose, right? He walked past the tapestry three times, thinking about how he needed a room where he could think in peace and talk to Shiva without being overheard.

And really, the third time he walked past, the wall on the other side morphed into a door, leaving Harry slightly stunned.

"Wow..." He opened the door, catching a glimpse of an empty room before turning back to Dobby, grinning. "Thank you! That's just what I need, you're great!"

The house-elf bowed deeply. "It was an honour to help Harry Potter, sir! Dobby will always help if he can! Harry Potter can ask him whatever he wants!"

"Yeah, thanks, Dobby."

Harry watched as the elf vanished with a plop, before finally entering the Room of Requirement, closing the door behind him.

The room was pretty small, but with enough space for him to move freely. The whole wall on his left was covered with big shelves that contained a whole lot of books and continued on the wall opposite of him. Also, there were quiet a few comfy-looking armchairs and pillows around a crackling fire, reminding him of the Gryffindor common room, though the furniture was mostly held in dark colours like brown or black. He thought it looked great.

Plopping down onto the armchair nearest to the fire, he told Shiva it was alright to come out and soon she had rolled up on his lap, enjoying the warmth of the fire while inquiring where they were.

Harry gave her the short version before pulling out a book on Light Magic. Its content wasn't as new to him as books about Dark Magic could be, but he couldn't risk walking around with these books, so he stuck to the lighter ones he had gotten from the library.

ooo

He left the room around dinner time, answering Hermiones worried questions about where he had been with an easy 'Walking around the castle.' before helping himself to some potatoes.

As he lay awake this night after the other guys had gone to sleep, he also finally got around to asking Shiva if she was really able to read.

_"Yes. But it is not the human script I can read,"_ she answered, confusing Harry even further. _"I have been part of a ritual that allows a snake to view any human script as if it was written in Parseltongue."_

At that, Harry stared at her. _"Written? You mean, there is an alphabet and everything?"_

_"Well, of course. It _is_ a valid language, though not many humans can speak it. I do not know who has created it and I do not care, but snakes have always been able to read it, and only it."_

That... sounded really interesting.

_"Can you teach me?"_

The snake cocked her head, probably thinking about it. _"I am not sure. As you know, snakes cannot write, so to learn writing it I would need to explain to you how different sounds look like. That could be difficult."_

Harry shrugged slightly. _"I don't mind. I'm sure it could be really interesting, learning something like that."_

Also, having a possibility of writing in a language almost no one could read? It might not be useful, but it would surely distract him if he had finished his books.

So they ended their little talk for today with the promise to look for an opportunity to learn that language and Harry went to sleep with a smile. Even though there was still so much to learn, it was quite... thrilling.

ooo

The rest of the weekend went by way too fast and soon it was Monday again. Harry just barely survived the first few classes without falling asleep in History of Magic, screwing up his draught in Potions - oh how Snape had looked at him as he couldn't find a flaw, it was just too funny - or strangling Professor Trelawney in Divination. And finally, he was back to his favourite class.

Professor Pyrites told them happily that he had looked through the essays and had chosen the spells he would teach them. Though of course, he didn't tell them which. Afterwards, they continued to practise _Impedimenta_.

They had formed groups of two once more, but were mostly working with dummies now, taking turns to cast the spell at them. These things were great, as they were enchanted to glow for a moment if the spell that hit them had been done correctly.

Harry had already mastered it and was just trying to understand what Neville did wrong as Professor Pyrites reached them.

"Mr. Potter, I take it that you are able to cast the spell since you're helping your partner again? Care to demonstrate it?"

Harry just shrugged and did as told, earning an approving nod. "Very well."

Their teacher turned to Neville. "What about you, Mr... Longbottom, wasn't it?"

Neville nodded nervously and turned to the dummy.

"_Impedimenta_!"

The spell did shoot at the dummy, it even connected, but there was no glow. The spell had been too weak, though as far as Harry could tell the hand movements were correct.

Even Professor Pyrites seemed to ponder this situation for a moment.

"That was strange... as far as I could tell, your hand movements were alright, if only a bit shaky... But normally, lack of confidence shouldn't interfere enough, except for..." He stopped, before looking directly at Neville. "Say, what's for wand made of?"

Neville blinked, surprised at the sudden change of topic. "Um... aspen wood and phoenix feather."

The teacher frowned. "Strange... usually aspen wood makes a particular _good_ wand for offensive spells... It's a duelling wand, you know?"

"It was the wand of my father... and he was a skilled duellist."

Neville looked down, clearly not very happy to talk about this topic. Not that Harry could blame him. Last year he had accidentally witnessed a memory of the trial of Barty Crouch Jr., a known Death Eater who had been loyal to Voldemort even after his 'defeat' fourteen years ago. He had been part of a group that had tried searching for their master and therefore tortured Nevilles parents into insanity. It was a horrible thing, so Harry could completely understand Nevilles lack of enthusiasm.

Professor Pyrites just nodded slowly.

"I am sure of that. But phoenix feather wands tend to be very picky as far as their potential owners are concerned. It could very well be that your wand isn't working properly for you... I'm guessing you've never visited a wandmaker to get your own wand?"

Neville shook his head, still not facing their professor. "My grandmother wanted me to use it, to honour him..."

"Though I understand her motives, I would suggest to buy a new wand anyway. You current wand obviously doesn't work very well with you and I'm sure a fitting one would improve your performance and thus your confidence quite a bit."

"How do you know so much about wandlore?" Harry finally asked, having wondered about it since Professor Pyrites had made that comment about the aspen wood. Things like that weren't common knowledge as far as he knew.

But the teacher just shrugged. "My father's a wandmaker. You pick up a few things if you get told stuff like that for years as a child."

That... seemed surprisingly logical. Though to be honest, Harry had never thought about the fact that Ollivander certainly couldn't be the _only_ wandmaker in the world. In retrospect, it seemed obvious. It wasn't as if every witch and wizard in the whole world could go to Diagon Alley just for getting a wand...

"Anyway, how about it? A little trip to Ollivanders the next time you're at Diagon Alley? It might even help with your OWLs," Professor Pyrites continued and Neville nodded, though looking uncertain.

"Alright... though I don't think I'll be visiting before the summer holidays..."

"Well... don't worry about it, sometimes life offers surprises," Professor Pyrites just answered, winking, before finally resuming his tour through the classroom, leaving the tow boys staring at each other, confused, before continuing to practise.

ooo

But their confusion cleared at the end of the lesson. Only a few minutes before the end, Professor Pyrites stopped their spellcasting with his _Sonorus_, having climbed on top of his desk once more.

"Alright, you all did great! As far as I have seen, everyone should be able to cast an _Impedimenta_ now. For the next lesson I will change the tactic a little bit, because I had the feeling some of you were overly bored today."

Harry wondered if he had imagined Professor Pyrites looking in Malfoys direction. "So... starting with Friday, everyone who is able to cast the charm correctly and feels confident with it is allowed to first help their partner master the spell before looking out for other classmates, helping them. It should get all of us to progress faster, since I cannot duplicate myself as of yet." He winked, before turning serious again. "Though please keep in mind that some people might not appreciate your help. So you should ask if a person wants your help first and don't get too disappointed if they decline. Has everyone got that?"

A small murmur of 'Yes's and 'Yeah's followed. "Alright! And now, to something much more enjoyable: We're all having a field trip!"

Professor Pyrites grinned, spreading his arms and looking expectantly at the students, who mostly looked at each other, sharing confused looks. A field trip in Defence class? They never even had a field trip in _any_ class before... but their teacher wasn't finished yet.

"So.. I've convinced Professor Dumbledore to let your whole year go on a trip to Diagon Alley." _Now_ the whispers were starting. Typical... "Now, now... you have a whole break of talking in front of you, just wait a few more minutes, okay? On October 14th we - as in, all fifth-years, me and another teacher I still need to convince - are going to see a friend of mine. Because auror Gawain Robards will present his book _Wards from all around the World_ at Flourish and Blotts. As it fits almost perfectly with our colloquium - at least it would if we wouldn't revise our spellwork first, but whatever, nobody is perfect! - we'll go there, listening to him and afterwards you may ask him a few questions. Even though he's a busy man I've managed to get enough time for us to do so. Buut..." He held up one finger. "since we'll leave school grounds, I'll need an explicit permission of your parents or a guardian that you're allowed to go."

A collective groan went through the class. "Yep, sorry about that, but rules are rules and Professor Dumbledore told me you need to do this. But on the upside, you'll get a little bit of freetime afterwards. Though if you choose to part with me I _will_ collect your wands first, I won't have you wreaking havoc in Diagon Alley!"

He jumped down the table, looking pleased. "I think I've told you everything you need to know. And now, off you go, enjoy your freetime, be the first to break these news to everyone else, let the rumours go crazy, do whatever you kids do if you have news like that to spread. Oh, and because I'm sure getting your allowance is work enough: No homework. Have fun!"

With that, he left the room, leaving a surprised bunch of students to comprehend what he had just announced to them.

Well, Harry couldn't say he was in a much better state, but he knew one thing:

They had _so_ hit the jackpot with this teacher.

* * *

**First of all: Sorry about the delay, I just had no idea what to write except for the first and the last scene... I hope it doesn't show too much...!  
But hey, now there was Dobby and even more of Pyrites~**

**And I can promise you that, like ****almost all **Defence teachers in the Harry Potter books, he will continue to show up ;3

**Another big thank you for every person that reads this story and chooses to let me know by following, favouring or even reviewing it! You guys rock!**

**Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling. (If someone knows about that disclaimer thing I mentioned last chapter, I'm still stumped...)  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	16. Secrets revealed

**Chapter 16: Secrets revealed**

Mere hours after that lesson, the whole castle knew about that field trip. For that, the dinner must have been to blame, as almost everyone talked about it.

Harry himself kept quiet though, mostly because he really had a problem right now.

'Parents or guardians', Professor Pyrites had said... and for him that included only three people. His muggle relatives - who probably wouldn't sign anything for him ever again after that fiasco with Aunt Marge - and Sirius. A convicted mass murderer, whose permit would _probably_ been frowned upon. Sure, Sirius had given him permission to visit Hogsmeade, but that slip of parchment had gone directly to Dumbledore instead of a teacher... Harry wasn't sure if a stunt like that wouldn't get him more attention than necessary this time...

On the other hand, didn't he want to improve Sirius' reputation? And the letter would go straight to Professor Pyrites anyway, no one else needed to see it...

ooo

Thankfully, the notes weren't due to the week before the trip, meaning Harry had more than enough time to ask Sirius himself what to do.

Because of that, he decided to go to the Room of Requirement once more that Sunday afternoon, ditching Ron and Hermione after a particular stressful Quidditch practice. He had claimed being tired, retreating into the dormitories before getting his Invisibility Cloak.

Being invisible had it's advantages, so he had time to snatch a darker book out of his back as well as Sirius' mirror before he sneaked out of the common room just behind some younger Gryffindor who was just leaving.

He went to the seventh floor without encountering any problems, easily materializing the door that led to the Room of Requirement after making sure no one else was around.

Only after closing the door behind him he pulled off his Cloak and sat down next to the fire again. Shiva had just assumed the same position as the last time as Harry pulled out the Mirror, speaking Sirius' name clearly and waiting for his godfather to appear.

It needed a few minutes, but that was to be expected. The mirror was big and not very handy to carry around, so Sirius had cast some kind of charm on it to let the owner know whenever their mirror was called. But because of that, the distance between mirror and owner could be quite big and getting to it might need a while.

Still, it was worth the wait as finally, Harrys reflection vanished and the face of his godfather appeared. He was inside of his room, as Harry knew his mirror hung there, but Sirius seemingly had just arrived. He looked slightly out of breath, his shoulder-length hair, currently wet, sticking to his head, probably freshly washed.

"Harry! Glad to see you, what's going on?" he asked happily, looking even better than the last time they had talked. Obviously, his little trips into muggle London did him good.

Harry couldn't contain a smile while answering. "Nothing much, we've finally experienced our new Defence teacher. I hope I haven't interrupted you shower?"

Sirius seemed slightly confused at first, as if he hadn't expected that question, before shaking his head. "Don't worry, I was already putting on my clothes as I got your call. But anyway, what about your new teacher? Is he any good?"

Harry nodded, proceeding to tell his godfather about Professor Pyrites and, while he was at it, a few other things that had happened too.

Sirius listened patiently, asking a few questions when he thought Harry wasn't specific enough and adding his own opinion from time to time.

"Are you sure abut that?" he finally asked after Harry had come to an end, talking about the permission that a guardian of his had to sign and his thoughts about letting Sirius do it. "I mean... I would do it, but you told me the Ministry sent him. You _do_ know that they're still searching for me, thinking _I'm_ the danger instead of Voldemort? I don't know that Pyrites guy personally, but I wouldn't be too keen on being responsible for... the efforts to feed the aurors false information being in vain."

Harry nodded, slowly. He knew that - though that piece about the aurors getting false information was new to him - but he really didn't see another way...

"I know what you mean, but Professor Pyrites doesn't seem like a bad guy. Sure, he does some weird things sometimes, but... other than that, he's nice. Also, I couldn't tell him where you are even if I wanted to, you're still under the protection of the Fidelius Charm, right? I just thought... since the Dursleys will probably _never_ sign anything connected with Hogwarts ever again after that last time, I could at least ask you."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully and Harry wondered what his godfather was thinking right now, but he just smiled.

"Look, let me think about it and talk to me again in a week, alright? I'm sure we'll have a solution until then! A trip to Diagon Alley, you can't pass up something like that!"

Harry smiled back, letting the good mood of Sirius infect him. He'd think about something too, it would be alright...

He had just opened his mouth to say his goodbyes - he wanted to use his little bit of free time with Shiva to either get some reading done or, and that would be even better, to start learning about Parseltongue-script - as suddenly, a door behind Sirius opened, revealing a fully clothed Remus who was just stepping out, towelling his hair, not paying any attention to anything.

So instead of his intended sentence, Harry just stared behind his godfather. "Is that Remus behind you...?"

Sirius blinked surprised, before turning. Maybe he hadn't heard the door? Harry couldn't know, the audio transmission regarding background noises wasn't very good so Harry rarely heard anything else except what was said directly in front of the mirror anyway.

That didn't mean he couldn't hear Sirius practically shouting across the room.

"Moony! Glad to see you've finally stopped showering!" … "Don't know what you're talking about." ... "Yep, wanna say hello?"

Remus' answers had been too quiet to hear, but at least the last response had probably been an affirmative, seeing that the man was walking across the room now.

"Hello Harry. How are you?" Remus inquired with a friendly smile.

"Alright, I guess. School's surprisingly fun and our new Defence teacher is alright," Harry answered casually, deciding not to worry his former teacher with his little predicament for now. Sirius would probably tell him anyway, that old gossip.

Remus nodded slowly. "Glad to hear that. It has gotten a lot calmer here too, Molly is still obsessed with cleaning every room, but since most of her helpers are at Hogwarts right now and the others don't get why they should clean rooms that won't be used anyway, she is doing most of the work alone now." Sirius mumbled something Harry couldn't understand. Remus seemed to do so though, as he rolled his eyes. But he didn't comment, changing the topic instead. "So... any other news? Is Hedwig alright?"

At first, Harry was confused at the question. Of course Hedwig was alright... but then he got it. Remus was probably asking if he had gotten more anonymous letters while trying to leave Sirius in the dark. Quite a feat actually.

"Yeah, she's fine, she hasn't much work to do these days. But no other interesting news," Harry responded, trying to convey that Quetzalcoatl was showing up only rarely, without really surprising news or anything. Just the occasional fun fact.

"That's good to hear." He looked as if he wanted to say something more, before deciding against it, turning to Sirius instead. "I'll go look if my help is needed downstairs, alright? You can continue talking, just remember that the meeting starts in about ten minutes."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "As if everyone will be on time today. But alright, I'll see you then."

With that, Remus said his goodbyes to Harry and vanished out of the mirrors field of vision. A few seconds later Sirius had turned back, smiling.

"That's Moony for you. Anyway, I'm guessing you'll have things to do, too, right? I don't want to keep you, just one more thing: How's your snake?"

"Huh?" Harry actually panicked slightly at that before he remembered that both Remus and Sirius had once seen Shiva as they all had travelled to London. And at least his godfather obviously hadn't forgotten about it.

"Well, I'm guessing you still have it? You two did seem rather close as far as I could tell from that one time I saw it. I'm not sure what I should think of that, but as long as you're happy..." Sirius explained, shrugging.

"Well... yes. She's still here. I just didn't think you'd remember her."

"Of course I do. How could I forget my Gryffindor godson suddenly having a pet snake?" He chuckled. "So, it's a female?"

Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah. And her name is Shiva, in case you wondered. It was pure chance that I found her but she helped me a great deal to get through the summer without losing my sanity to boredom. She's incredibly intelligent for a snake."

"Glad to hear that. Though, what do the other kids think about it? Not to mention the teachers... Do they know about her?"

"Well... no," Harry confessed. "Currently, the only ones who know are Remus and you."

Sirius frowned. "What about Ron and Hermione?"

"Well... I don't know... I fear that they'll think bad of me... You know Ron, he's pretty much the kind of guy who thinks 'snakes are dark and dark is evil'... and Hermione wouldn't like it that I'm bending the rules for Shiva. It's written that every student is allowed _one_ pet, not two, and I already have Hedwig. Also, it explicitly states that every pet needs to be an owl, cat or toad."

His godfather raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, they're your best friends. Don't you think you can trust them?"

"That's not it... I'm just worried about everyone finding out and thus alerting the teachers..."

"Even if that _would_ happen - which would require a pretty big slip of the tongue from one of you - I can't imagine any teacher would do something. _Could_ do something. Think about it, how many people have brought different animals to school? Think about Pettigrew. Ron never got in trouble for bringing a rat to school, did he?"

Harry nodded slowly. And hadn't Lee Jordan brought some kind of tarantula once? Now that he was thinking about it, there were quite a few students with other animals in school... maybe it really couldn't hurt...?

"Anyway," Sirius continued. "Think about it. You don't need to decide right now, but I do think it's better if they'd hear it from you than see Shiva accidentally and get to know you had her all year."

"Yeah... I guess I will think about it."

"Good! And I'll come up with a solution for your permit-problem. Anything else?" Harry shook his head. "Alright, then I guess we'll speak again next weekend, okay?"

"Definitely. I'll see if I can get away again."

"Yeah, just call me whenever, I'll be there."

They exchanged goodbyes and waved to each other, before Sirius ended the connection.

Harry put the mirror next to him, absentmindedly wondering if he should buy a case or something to secure it, before switching to Parseltongue to inform Shiva about what had happened.

She also agreed, once more, that he should tell his friends about her. It would be so much easier to hide, then. And the fact that they kept Sirius' identity or the existence of magical items like his Invisibility Cloak or the Marauders Map hidden clearly meant they should be able to keep other secrets too.

And Harry couldn't really go against that logic. He still said he'd think about it though, because rushing things would just lead to problems. Even _if_ he decided to tell them he would still need to think about where and when... it would need a bit of preparation.

But whatever, he still had time right now, so he focused on Shiva, changing the topic altogether.

_"So... how about these lessons in writing Parseltongue? Do you think we could start now?"_

_"Sure. If you are having something to write?"_

He didn't, but as he looked around he suddenly found a stack of parchments laying on top of a table just behind him, complete with ink and a nice but simple quill. He wondered briefly where the hell that table had come from, but then again... it _was_ called the "Room of _Requirement_".

So instead of wasting more time wondering, he and Shiva moved to the table that was still close enough to the fireplace for Shiva to feel comfortable. He himself sat down on the matching chair, which was cushier than it looked like. Sweet.

Shiva then began describing to him how certain sounds looked like when they were written, but after they needed almost ten minutes for the first two letters they decided on a different approach.

As most letters in the Parseltongue alphabet pretty much looked like snakes - well, they were simple lines, at least - Shiva would try to position herself the way the letter looked like. That way, Harry just needed to copy it before she would look if he had done it correctly, telling him to add one or two details if necessary.

This procedure worked much better and soon Harry had most of the letters written down. The only problem now would be connecting them, because like with every language, there were things that differed between spoken and written words. But as he was able to speak the language, he at least had a sight advantage. He would manage it.

ooo

He was working very focused, completely forgetting the time. It had felt like minutes, but as his stomach grumbled he looked at his watch, noticing it was almost curfew time!

Cursing slightly, he quickly told Shiva that they needed to stop for know - though he would probably continue practising to write the letters later - before collecting the rest of his stuff and leaving the room, wearing his beloved Invisibility Cloak again, heading once more to the kitchens. The disadvantage of skipping dinner after Quidditch practise.

He was just walking through one of the corridors on the first floor as he saw two small girls, probably first or second years, standing next to each other in an alcove, looking worried.

Cursing himself for not taking the Marauders Map with him, he carefully crept forward, hoping to not make any suspicious sounds as his feet touched the cold stone floor of the castle. The girls seemed lost or something, looking around nervously as one of them clutched at a pair of scales, but they did not look into his direction, so he probably was safe.

Having already passed them, he just wanted to take a relieved breath as the door of a classroom to his left suddenly opened, revealing a tired looking Draco Malfoy.

Surprised, Harry took a few steps back, fearing that Malfoy might somehow notice him, but the boy just closed the door behind him, locked it with an easy locking charm before looking at the two girls.

"Let's go, we're finished for today!" he told them and a dumbstruck Harry watched the two girls following the Malfoy heir without further questioning. What the hell...?

He waited until all three of them were out of sight, before pulling out his wand, pointing it at the locked door.  
"_Alohomora_!" he whispered. The lock clicked and Harry easily stepped into the classroom, now incredibly curious what Malfoy had done in here. Of course, he was careful, he didn't want to be the victim of any of Malfoys pranks, but he couldn't detect any spells or other weird things.

Instead, the classroom was virtually empty. No tables or chairs, the only thing left was a whole lot of space, a board at the front of the room and a black and gold cabinet that somehow seemed familiar.

But his focus lay on the board in the front. A lot of different runes were drawn on it, but as Harry had oh-so-wisely decided to take courses like Divination instead of helpful ones like Ancient Runes he had no idea what they could mean. Perhaps Malfoy tried to create new spells? That would explain the space... but he had no idea if the fifth year curriculum in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy covered enough to try these things...

He opened the doors of the cabinet too, just as a precaution, but it was empty. So there really was nothing else in here to do... oh well. It really wasn't his business.

He left the room, locking the door again in the process, before continuing his way to the kitchens. It wasn't that far away anymore...

ooo

The next few days went by without any thing big happening. He got another fun fact from Quetzalcoatl, but other than that, his days were filled with learning, homework and the trying to remember the different letters in Parseltongue. He had almost no time to think about telling Ron and Hermione about Shiva or if there was another possibility to get his permit for Defence. Of course, his two best friends had simply written their parents, easily getting their okays... leaving him to wish it would be that easy for him too... Just another reason to get Sirius out of trouble as soon as possible.

But because of that, he was hit completely by surprise as a nondescript, brown owl dropped a letter in front of him at breakfast that Thursday.

He had already gotten his copy of the Daily Prophet, so what kind of letter could that be?

He easily found out by opening it, though he thought he couldn't believe his eyes at first.

_Hereby we, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, guardians of Harry Potter, allow him to visit Diagon Alley at the 14th October 1995 for Defence Against the Dark Arts._

There even was their signature below! How the bloody hell had they even known about it, much less signed so willingly?

"Harry, you've dropped something," Neville muttered across from him as the Boy-Who-Lived turned the letter, wondering if it was a cheap joke.

And really, there had been another parchment enclosed which Harry had overlooked. It was also very short.

_Best solution, don't you think? _

_Snuffles_

He blinked. Sirius? Now, that was weird, he definitely needed to confront his godfather about it.

As Ron next to him wondered why he was looking so surprised, he showed both of his friends the notes and while Hermione frowned, probably focussing on what had happened to get this result, Ron grinned, clapping him on his back.

"That's great, mate! There shouldn't be any trouble with Pyrites if you give that to him tomorrow!"

Harry nodded slowly.

"Yeah... but I really need to talk to Si- Snuffles about it. Maybe this weekend. Care to join me?"

He looked at his two best friends questioningly, finally deciding that Sirius was right. If he couldn't even trust them, who else was left? And really, just because he wanted to think for himself didn't mean he would keep everything a secret from everyone!

It was necessary to talk to people, otherwise he might just go crazy with all his secretiveness. Sure, there were secrets he still wouldn't tell - like his newfound vigour to study _every_ brand of magic, he'd keep that for later - but he could at least try to let his friends in somehow.

So, after receiving two affirmative responses, he put the letters safely away, before returning to his breakfast.

ooo

That Saturday, Harry led the three of them to the Room of Requirement. At first, he had thought about using a different room, since he had used this room to be alone until now, but then again, he could always wish for no one being able to follow him... that should actually be possible.

So he did show Ron and Hermione the room and actually, Hermiones facial expression as she took in all those books was _so_ worth it. Though he assumed she wouldn't be that enthusiastic if he had told her it was Dobby who showed him this room. She liked the house elf well enough, but he did have a very strange definition of 'helping Harry'. Instead, he had told his friends that he had found the room by accident.

Anyway, the interior had changed slightly since last weekend. The table was still there, but there were even more books and armchairs, and the room itself had slightly expanded.

"Wow..." Ron was the first to utter his astonishment as Hermione was already staring at the books longingly.

Harry chuckled slightly at their antics - though he could understand it, the room _was_ fascinating.

"Yeah. Quite a cool room, isn't it? And almost no one else knows about it, it's not even on the Marauders Map, so... I trust you can keep this a secret?"

"Of course we can!" Hermione instantly told him and Ron nodded.

"Sure. It's like the perfect hiding place if you don't want anyone to find you!"

"Exactly," Harry agreed. "That's why I thought it was the best place to talk with Sirius."

Both of his friends nodded, but Harry had no intention of calling Sirius now. First, there was his... other problem.

"Is there something wrong?" Hermione asked confused, as he didn't move and probably looked slightly nervous too.

"Uh... yes, I just wanted to tell you and Ron something..." he muttered, causing both of his friends to look at him questioningly.

"Well... what is it?" Hermione prompted, probably wondering why he was making such a fuss about it.

Harry sighed. "I... have made a new friend over the summer. I felt pretty lonely because _some people_ wanted me to stay with the Dursleys and... well. She was there for me."

"But... that's good, why do you look as if we'd bite your head of for that?" Hermione asked, frowning as she tried to understand his problem.

"Because... she's here. Right now. And she's not a human."

By now, both of his friends were looking through the room, but of course, they couldn't find anyone. Well, there it went.

"Uh... try not to freak out, okay?" He looked down. _"You may come out now, carefully."_ he hissed quietly and Shiva stuck her head out of his robe, focussing on his friends. "That's her."

Their reaction came instantly. Both of his friend froze, staring wide eyed at the snake, with their mouths hanging slightly open. Truly, Shiva had become slightly bigger, but not _that_ big or frightening. If Harry hadn't been so nervous, he would have laughed. He had obviously hidden her well.

Ron got his voice back first once more.

"That's... a snake!" he said, pointing out the obvious.

"Well... yes. That she is. And I actually thought about telling you guys before, but... I kinda feared it would turn out like that..." Harry explained, nervously looking back and forth between his two friends.

"Well... I won't say that this isn't quite shocking," Hermione said, slowly regaining her composure. "But... it-... she actually suits you. Somehow... What's her name?"

Harry blinked surprised. Was it really that easy?

"It's Shiva," he told her, just as Ron exclaimed "Hermione! Snakes are evil!"

She turned to Ron, frowning. "Oh come on, animals itself _can't_ be evil. It's either self-defence or the way they're trained that make them seem so. And you can't think Harry instils evil behaviour into animals now, can you?"

He stared at her. "Well, no, but-!"

"No buts! I don't like the fact that he has waited that long to tell us about a pet he already has for more than a month, but he probably knows her better than any other animal. He _is_ a Parselmouth."

Ron looked from Harry to Hermione and back, obviously unsure what to say. In the end, he opted to a small, grumpy murmur.

"Whatever. But keep it away from me..."

With that, he walked down the room, took a book out of one of the shelves on his way and seated himself on the armchair which was farthest from them but still near the fireplace.

Harry looked helplessly at Hermione - honestly, Ron _reading a book_? - who shrugged slightly.

"He will get over it, I'm sure he's just moping because you didn't think you could trust us enough for that," she whispered, before raising her voice back to a normal level. "Please understand, that you can trust us. We won't spill your secrets, even if we might not necessarily like them."

Harry shrugged. "I know that... but there are some things I'm just not comfortable sharing with anyone... Everyone has a few secrets, right?"

"I think I do understand what you mean. But it would be nice if you could consider telling us anyway, at least once you feel comfortable with it. I can't speak for Ron, but _I_ certainly won't hold you trusting me with your secrets against you. And I don't think he would, either."

Harry just chuckled drily. Well, they didn't know the secret. He wondered if Hermione would still say the same if he told her right now that he was studying Dark Magic. He didn't think so.

Though it was quite the predicament anyway.

On the one hand, he _wanted_ to trust his friends with his secrets. He didn't want to change into a person that was so paranoid they only ever trusted themselves. He knew he would probably always try to handle problems alone, but that was because he didn't want to drag his friends into dangerous situations, not because he didn't trust them enough.

But on the other hand, he wondered if they would ever look at him the same if they knew his secrets. He could probably tell Hermione one day, since her thirst for knowledge was pretty big too and he could argue with logic, but Ron...? His whole family firmly believed that Dark Magic _had_ to equal evil. Was it safe to tell him that this wasn't true? He didn't know.

"Harry? Are you alright?"

Hermiones voice brought him out of his thoughts and he nodded once.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. Let's call Sirius, alright?"

She looked at him frowning, as if she wanted to know what he had been thinking, but agreed anyway.

Time to tell off his godfather for writing to his relatives! And thank him anyway, since however he did that he managed to let Harry go to Diagon Alley without risking Sirius' exposure.

That would be a fun talk.

* * *

**I'm so sorry that I haven't updated until now! I was pretty stressed out by real life and somehow managed to get this lovely thing we all know as 'writers block'... I just hope it's gone now and I can write faster now. (Though updates will probably need longer than five days now anyway, my semester break is over now and I'm having quite a few projects to tend to.**

**Anyway, now we had a quite long chapter mostly solving the problem of Harrys guardians. I hope you liked that solution (though more details will be mentioned next chapter) and... yes. We'll finally get to see Diagon Alley next chapter (if everything goes as planned. It almost never does, but oh well *cough*)**

**As always: Thanks a lot for your favs, follows and reviews! Especially the latter helped me a whole lot while procrastinating, since I really don't want to disappoint you...**

**Harry Potter still belongs to J. K. Rowling and stuff.  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	17. A Trip to Diagon Alley

**Chapter 17: A Trip to Diagon Alley**

In the end, their 'fun talk' consisted mostly of Hermione giving Sirius a lecture about things one should and shouldn't do after he had explained that getting the permission for Harry had been a piece of cake with the Dursleys thinking he was a convicted mass murderer. He didn't even need a compulsion spell or anything. A simple letter had been enough, though Sirius didn't tell them what exactly he had written. Which was probably for the better, since every approach Harry had in mind would have probably angered Hermione further.

Sometimes she was quite similar to Mrs. Weasley.

But Sirius just smiled as she lectured him, because really, Hermione was fifteen, she might have been frightening to Ron or Harry, but Sirius...?

Still, Harry listened to her for a while, before placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Lay off, alright? It might have not been the nice way, but otherwise I wouldn't have been able to got to Diagon Alley without revealing him to Professor Pyrites. Who works in the Ministry. Which wouldn't be good, don't you agree?"

That shut her up as she undoubtedly thought about what might happen if the Ministry got wind of the fact that Sirius was in touch with Harry. Who was right now using the resulting silence to talk.

"I just wanted to thank you for doing that. It has probably been the best solution and Professor Pyrites has accepted it without a problem."

Sirius smiled and Harry noted in passing how he finally looked how a man his age should look, with the visible after-effects from his visit to Azkaban - including the haunted look in his eyes which Harry had still found to be there during the summer holidays - gone. The occasional visits to muggle London and the fact that he did have some extent of freedom had certainly helped.

Now the only thing left to do was bringing back his _real_ freedom.

ooo

Soon after that they said their goodbyes as Sirius had promised Remus something he didn't want to tell them, but they didn't pry, telling him to have fun before he ended the connection.

They still had time until lunch, so they opted to stay for a while longer and Hermione went to the bookshelves to find a good book as Harry got back to the table to continue practising his Parseltongue script. Ron hadn't moved from his position, ignoring everyone and everything, staring at the book in front of him. Harry just hoped his... condition wouldn't last forever as he began revising what he had learned last time together with Shiva.

ooo

Thankfully Harry remembered to look at his watch from time to time after last weeks surprise. Since as he looked around only minutes before lunch would begin, both of his friends seemed to be completely absorbed in whatever they were reading.

He first walked over to Hermione, surprised that she didn't even look up as he stood directly next to her.

"Uh... Hermione?" he mumbled, causing her to jump and look up from her position on a fluffy looking pillow next to the shelves.

"Harry! Don't scare me like that! What's wrong?"

"Well... lunch starts in about five minutes, I just thought you'd like to know," Harry explained and she nodded hurriedly.

"Of course, sorry!"

With that, she bookmarked wherever she had stopped reading and stood up, before glancing to Ron, who still hadn't moved.

She looked back to Harry and they had something like a silent conversation about who should go talk to him. It ended quickly and she walked over to the redhead.

"Uh... Ron? Are you coming? I'm sure you can finish that book later..." she said softly, placing another bookmark next to him.

That _did_ cause him to look up. "I'm coming... And I don't need that, it's just a boring book!" he grumbled, though as Hermione looked back to Harry he could see Ron bookmarking his page anyway, with red ears, before placing it on the ground.

Both of them walked to Harry, Ron looking increasingly uncomfortable. As they arrived, the latter looked up, obviously wanting to say something. Harry stood still, waiting for it.

"Look, about that snake..." Ron mumbled, quiet enough so that Harry needed to strain his ears to understand him. "I guess I'll just need time to accept it... I just wanted to say... I don't think you're evil or anything..."

With that, he hurried out of the room, Harry barely had time to say "Thanks!", hoping his friend had heard it, before he was alone with Hermione.

"See, I told you he will work things out," she said, smiling slightly. "It's probably just his upbringing, I fear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley - as wonderful as they are - have neglected to show their children that the world isn't always black and white... But he'll obviously think about it."

Harry nodded, thinking mostly the same, and both of them left the room, hoping that they wouldn't turn up all too late for lunch.

ooo

_Night had fallen once more in the manor and he was just walking out of the room, ignoring the faint sound of disapparition behind him. Instead, he walked down the corridor and after passing three doors he opened the fourth, revealing a room that obviously was a library. But he didn't care for the shelves he knew to be full of muggle books on almost everything. Right now, he needed something else._

_He walked up to a chair, before stretching out one arm._

_"Accio book."_

_He didn't even need to pull out his wand or specify what kind of book he wanted, he already heard the rustling of pages as his wanted book rushed to him._

_He easily caught it, looking at the cover for a few seconds. _Anti-Magic and Wards to face your Enemies_. It was perfect. He smirked slightly, sitting down before opening the book, wanting to start reading._

_The lights flickered._

_He frowned, looking up. Up there, the muggle lamp looked quite normal, nothing unusual going on. He looked back down, just about to dismiss it as an accident, as the lights flickered again. He frowned, putting the book aside. "Why do I have to tolerate them...?" he asked himself, annoyed at this interruption._

_He stood up, quickly leaving the library as the lights flickered a third time, making his way to another room just down the hall._

_The door was open and he had moved quietly, so the two men didn't notice his arrival as he stood by the entrance._

_"Do that again...!" the younger one of the two said, a big grin on his face and his focus completely on the man next to him. Who was grabbing the first one around the wrist right now, before doing something incredibly stupid. He couldn't see what exactly it was, but judging from the shivering form of both men and the fact, that their hair stood on end - literally, they looked like agitated cats! - it had something to do with electricity._

_He watched the whole procedure repeating itself about two more times, before deciding it was enough. He cleared his throat._

_Instantly, both men whirled around, looking bewildered at him before falling to their knees._

_"My Lord...!" they said, almost in unison as he looked past them. An electric socket. And one of the men held a fork in his hands. He raised an eyebrow._

_"Now, really, Greyback?" he wondered aloud. "Have you stooped that low..? Getting electric shocks at the expense of the light in _my_ room?"_

_His lips twisted into a slight smirk as the eyes of both men in front of him widened in shock. They obviously hadn't thought their actions through._

_"Oh well, who am I to deny other people their pleasures? You want electric shocks? So be it." He drew his wand. "_Cade Fulminibus_!"_

_Instantly, a few lightning bolts shot out of his wand, hitting Greyback in the shoulder. He held the spell for only a few seconds before stopping it, watching as the werewolf twitched on the ground._

_"Be happy that I didn't hit your heart. You might be as well as dead then, but you are too valuable to die. Though if you continue with these things I might change my mind," he stated coldly, before turning and walking back out of the room._

ooo

It was then, that Harry Potter awoke with a start, sitting up in the process.

_"Bloody hell..."_ he whispered, not noticing that he had spoken Parseltongue out of habit. Though he _did_ notice how Shiva stirred next to him.

_"What is wrong...?"_ she asked, instantly alert.

He shook his head.

_"I'm... not sure... I think I just had a vision, but my scar doesn't hurt... and some of it's content... I think I once dreamt of something similar..."_

She seemed to ponder it for a while.

_"Was someone hurt?"_

_"One of the werewolves that are on Voldemorts side... Greyback, I think... But he did kind of provoke him..."_

_"Well, in that case, I do not think you can do anything, vision or not. Try sleeping some more. You will need your strength, the trip to Diagon Alley is tomorrow."_

He nodded, smiling slightly at her. _"I guess you're right... thanks, Shiva."_

_"No problem, master. Now, sleep..."_

He laid back down, closing his eyes, trying not to think about anything to let sleep claim him once more...

ooo

He wasn't very well-rested as he awoke the next morning, almost oversleeping since he had needed quite a while to get back to sleep after his weird vision-dream-thingy, but thankfully, his friends didn't comment on it. Instead, they - just like almost every other fifth-year, if Harry looked around a bit - were just talking about the trip to Diagon Alley and how it would be so cool to leave Hogwarts during the year not going to Hogsmeade.

About an hour after breakfast they all met up in the Defence classroom, which was empty otherwise as it was a Saturday and no classes were being held. Soon, Harrys year - which consisted of about forty students - was assembled and most of them were now looking at Professor Pyrites, who stood at the front, together with Professor Vector - she would help him to keep track of the students. Both of them had been chatting among themselves, only occasionally looking up to count the assembled fifth-years.

Now that they were complete, Professor Pyrites raised his voice.

"Alright folks, now before you will try to act civilised while forming a nice, long queue, a bit of information. First of all: We're going to floo!"

A few people groaned and Harry just barely held back one of his own.

Great.

His only experience with the floo network had been a disaster. And he had tried to get to Diagon Alley that time, too. Professor Pyrites wasn't finished, though.

"Who has never flooed before, gets easily floosick or otherwise has no confidence with his flooing skills? Just gather in this corner, we'll get back to you, alright?" he explained while pointing into the far corner of the room.

Harry looked at his friends. Should he go into that corner? Really? Especially since no one else wanted to make the first step, probably afraid to be the only one who had never used floo powder before or anything...

He guessed he wouldn't have moved, had Hermione not taken his hand, pulling him with her as she walked more or less confidently into that corner.

"Hey...!" he protested half-heartedly but she just rolled her eyes.

"We both know how you think about flooing and I've never travelled that way before. We'll be fine."

That being said, once people noticed them standing there, some of them seemed to gather enough courage to follow and soon they were about ten students, mostly muggleborns. As far as Harry could tell, only he himself and Padma Patil weren't 'first-timers', but on the other hand, what did he know? He had no idea what most other people in his year did in their free time, maybe they all had problems with flooing or simply got sick?

It wasn't that important anyway so he turned to watch Professor Pyrites instead, who explained the other basics of their trip, like when they should meet where and so on. Afterwards, the other students were told to build a queue leading into the next room, where the fireplace to Diagon Alley had been opened for now. Both professors led the students into the next room and the queue soon began to move as the first people flooed to Diagon Alley.

Everything went by surprisingly quick as they talked quietly with each other and finally, mere minutes after the last students had entered the room next door, Professor Vector left it and walked up to them.

"Thank you for waiting so patiently. Professor Pyrites and I had already anticipated some of you not being able to floo. Those of you who have never done it: It's actually not that hard, you just walk up to a fireplace which is connected to the floo network, take a bit of floo powder and throw it into the fire, before stepping into it and saying your destination very clearly," she explained patiently, but in a tone that clearly said 'Listen, I will not repeat myself'. "Since you need to speak clearly and are spinning quite fast while flooing it is understandable that this method of travelling is not for every witch or wizard. I prefer other means of transportation too. And because of that, we have asked Professor Dumbledore to provide us with an alternative. Especially so since we don't want first-timers to end up somewhere else."

Harry couldn't help nodding slightly at her words. He didn't want to think about what would happen if half of them would land in Knockturn Alley because of bad pronunciation or anything.

While he was still thinking, their teacher had pulled out a roll of parchment, showing it to them.

"This is a Portkey. I'm trusting all of you know what a Portkey is?"

They nodded. Except for that experience back at the Quidditch World Cup last year - and at the Triwizard Tournament, but Harry liked to block out that particular day - they had actually discussed Portkeys and how to make them in Charms. Though they had also learned that creating them had to be allowed by the Ministry first, so they had not been allowed to practise that particular charm.

"Good. This special Portkey was made by the headmaster himself and it will bring us safely to Diagon Alley and back. It's triggered with a key word instead of time or touch, as that would be the safest option to move all of you," Professor Vector continued, before looking at them. "Another thing: Since Professor Pyrites and I cannot supervise you completely in Diagon Alley, as the place is huge and it would be easy for any student to give us the slip, we've decided to confiscate your wands as long as we are outside of Hogwarts. You will get them back once we have returned. If you do not want to let go of your wand you may stay in the castle. It is your decision."

They looked at each other, slightly nervous - to give their wand to someone else wasn't their favourite thing to do, since that would leave them mostly defenceless. Though really, there shouldn't be any dangerous stuff in Diagon Alley and if there was, there were quite a few adult wizards around them...

Once more, Harry and Hermione were the first to give Professor Vector their wand and the others followed, except for a Ravenclaw girl who declined politely, saying she'd rather stay at Hogwarts as she had made bad experiences without her wand and preferred to stay safe, before leaving the room. Understandably, in Harrys opinion, but he had Shiva so he really wasn't defenceless, even without a wand.

After Professor Vector had put away nine wands and did a quick scan for any secondary wands - "Just to play safe." - , she hold out the scroll. "Now, please touch the Portkey. One finger will be enough, but don't dawdle."

Everyone touched the scroll and after she had made sure that there wouldn't be a student left, she said "Bumblebee" - it was so obvious who had made the Portkey - and Harry could feel the weird sensation of something behind his navel pulling him forwards, sending them flying until they had finally reached their destination, falling over themselves mostly.

After disentangling himself from Hermione, as she had stood next to him, Harry rose and looked around. They were standing just behind the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, though... actually, only Professor Vector and two Hufflepuffs had remained standing and the former was just kneeling next to a slightly green locking Lisa Turpin, giving her a potion.

They needed a few minutes to sort everything out, before Professor Vector instructed them to follow her to Flourish and Blotts, where they would meet with the rest of them, ready to listen to Gawain Robards' book launch. Harry just hoped that it would be more interesting than the one Lockhart had given, back before his second year.

ooo

At the end of the presentation, Harry was glad that he had been able to come. Mr. Robards was a man with a strong sense of justice and he was incredibly well-informed on wards. His book would surely become a success if it was written the way he talked. Especially after that little 'interview-session' they had with him, where they were allowed to ask questions and everything. Harry had already decided for himself to get a copy once the store wasn't as full. They had a few hours to themselves now after all and wards would surely prove to be a very interesting thing.

He was just on his way out of the store, together with Ron and Hermione, as he noticed Neville to the side, standing next to Professor Pyrites.

"-and since it would be pretty unfair otherwise, I'd like to accompany you, alright?" Harry heard their teacher say and Neville nodded, though obviously wishing to be able to say no. Harry wondered for a second what that talk had been about, before he remembered that Neville would probably get his new wand now. And that it would hardly be fair if he was allowed to keep the new wand right now, as no other student had one.

He turned to his friends, who stood next to a bookshelf right now, Hermione looking longingly at some book.

"Um... guys? I'll be right back, Neville seems slightly overwhelmed with Professor Pyrites and he's my partner in Defence after all. I won't be long, alright?"

Hermione looked up, looking as if she was torn between wanting to stay to buy that book and following him to support Neville.

In the end, Ron decided for her. "Alright, do that. I'm sure Ollivander will be happy for not having five people in his realm if only one of them needs a wand. Also, Hermione looks like she really wants to buy something today. We'll meet again here later, just go!"

"Thanks!" Harry smiled gratefully, happy to have his best friend back after the strenuous days while Ron needed to come to terms with the fact that Shiva was also one of Harrys best friends now and nothing he could do would separate them. He still didn't like her much, but had accepted her presence, though he still looked at her very closely if Hermione came near her to pet her or anything.

Harry raised his hand, waving to his friends before turning and hurrying to Neville, who had made it to the door as Harry had talked. He finally caught up with him just outside of the shop.

"Hey Nev, I just saw you leaving, may I join you?" he asked with a smile, startling the Longbottom heir.

"Hi Harry, um..." Neville looked at Professor Pyrites, clearly unsure if Harry was allowed to come with them. The teacher just shrugged.

"Sure Mr. Potter, you may follow us. I guess you know where we're headed anyway."

Now it was Harrys time to shrug. "Ollivanders, I'd say. After all, Neville still needs a new wand."

"Well spotted. I'm sure you understand that I need to accompany Mr. Longbottom for that, too?"

Harry just nodded and Professor Pyrites beamed. "Very well then, off we go!"

ooo

They didn't need to walk a long distance, so Harry and Professor Pyrites soon stood at the back of Ollivanders, while Mr. Ollivander himself talked to Neville, measuring him just the way he had done with Harry so many years ago... It seemed almost surreal.

But the store itself hadn't changed much. The long rows full of wands were still there just like the quiet, dusty atmosphere of the shop. Still, there was one major change Harry soon noticed as Neville began to try the wands Mr. Ollivander gave him.

On the righthand side, where a plain wall had been back in 1991, now stood another shelf, but there were no wands in it. Instead, a new looking sign said 'wand holsters, 1 Galleon each, extra charms at a premium'.

Curious, Harry came closer, wondering since when Mr. Ollivander sold other things than wands, just as sparks shot out of the wand Neville had swung around.

"Wonderful!" Mr. Ollivander said and Harry turned back to Neville, grinning.

"Congratulations! What's it made of?"

Neville blushed slightly, not used to so much attention. "Thirteen inches, cherry wood and unicorn hair..." he mumbled, though smiling slightly as he pulled out the money for the wand, handing it to Mr. Ollivander.

"Great! I hope that wand will help you with your Defence performance. At least I would think so, as unicorn hair cores can help you with a lot of strong magic," Professor Pyrites said happily, before holding out his hand.

Neville gave him his wand, and the teacher nodded. "Thank you. I will take my leave, then. I expect to see you two at Flourish and Blotts at half past three." He put the wand away and left the shop with a quiet goodbye.

Neville was already at the door, wanting to follow him, as he noticed that Harry still stood at the shelf.

"Um... Harry? What are you doing...?"

Harry had just opened his mouth to explain why he was still standing there, but Mr. Ollivander beat him to it.

"Ah, I guess Mr. Potter has noticed the wand holsters..." He looked at Harry. "You know, I can make my living simply with selling wands. But over the years I have noticed that most wizards have no idea how to properly stow their wands, even if they are experts in handling them... So I decided to design a wand holster. The standard ones can be attached to the belt, leg or robe, which should help the average wizard to stow away their wands safely and without leaving scratches."

Both boys found themselves staring at the old wandmaker. Harry himself had always regarded Mr. Ollivander to be slightly weird - though certainly not stupid, he didn't seem to believe in the Daily Prophet after all - but that idea...

"That's brilliant!" he commented, smiling as he thought about all the times when he had wished that his wand was easier to get. "Though, what kind of extra charms do you offer...?"

"Well... There are certain charms that not every wizard is able to cast which could really help. Of course, one can always buy the standard version and apply any other charm themselves, but I offer permanent spells to turn the holster and the wand invisible while in use, as well as a selective sticking charm that makes the holster unable to come off if anyone except the owner tries to remove it. There also is a special version of these wand holsters available, which is fastened at your forearm, together with your wand. It will then require a certain password to be spoken aloud to shoot the wand directly into your hand, you just need to catch it."

Harry blinked, slightly overwhelmed. These were quite a few extras... but to have an invisible wand holster that could only be removed by himself as well as shoot his wand directly into his hand? That could be dead useful in any dangerous situation. And while there probably weren't much in school, he still had a certain Dark Lord to worry about. Also, he was sure that there were people who hated him solely because of the Daily Prophets slander.

"Um... How much would a wand holster with all of these charms cost?" he asked after considering it for a moment. He didn't trust himself to cast any of these charms successfully himself, though he might be able to do so with enough practise, Mr. Ollivander simply was the more experienced wizard, especially concerning permanent charms. And money certainly wasn't a problem for him.

"Seven Galleons, Mr. Potter. Do you want a specific design?"

Harry shook his head. "No, as long as it doesn't get in the way while moving normally..."

"Good. Then I can give you one of the basic ones I have already prepared. Just wait a moment."

Mr. Ollivander turned, on his way to the backroom, as Harry caught Nevilles expression of interest.

"Wait, please make that two!" Harry called and Mr. Ollivander nodded, emerging with two boxes about a minute later.

The boxes were bigger than the ones in which wands were stored - naturally - and he opened one to show Harry it's content, explaining how to fasten it onto ones forearm as well as how to apply and change the password.

Harry listened well, storing the information for later when he'd be back at Hogwarts with his wand.

Afterwards, he paid for both wand holsters, thanking the wandmaker before leaving the shop together with Neville.

Just as the door closed behind them, Harry turned to his fellow Gryffindor, taking one of the holsters and handing it to Neville.

"Here."

Nevilles eye got big. "W-What? No, Harry, I can't keep that...!"

"Of course you can. I saw your face inside, you _so_ wanted that, too. And like that your grandmother can't even tell you that you shouldn't have bought it since it was a gift," Harry explained seriously. Neville opened his mouth, probably to protest more, but Harry interrupted him. "No, nothing you can say will discourage me. Just... consider it a late birthday present."

Neville stared at him. "...You can't be serious. I didn't get you anything!"

Harry just rolled his eyes, smiling. "Than you'd better think up an awesome Christmas present for me! But honestly, I don't except anything in return, I just think you'll make really good use of it. Did you listen how to use it?"

Neville nodded, though still looking unsure.

"Don't worry about it. Make your grandmother proud," Harry said, winking. "But anyway, I guess I'll head back to Flourish and Blotts, Ron and Hermione said they'd wait for me there. Want to come?"

Neville shook his head. "Sorry, I need to take care of a few other things my gran wanted me to do while I'm here."

"Alright. Maybe we'll meet again somewhere else in the Alley and if not... three thirty at Flourish and Blotts at the latest. See you then...!"

Harry raised his head and Neville waved back before they parted, Neville going in one direction, Harry in the other, back to Flourish and Blotts.

Little did he know though that he would find neither Ron nor Hermione, but a completely different person at the bookstore.

* * *

**...Terribly sorry about that cliffhanger, I just couldn't put all of Diagon Alley into one chapter and that kind of ending just... wanted to be written *cough*  
Don't worry though, I've already quite a bit of the next chapter written down, the wait shouldn't be all too long...!**

**Hope you liked that little glimpse into Toms daily life... though I can't help myself with Greyback... I just have this weird mindset of him with electronics... don't ask. *cough*  
Next chapter will feature... *drum roll* The 'completely different person' ;p  
**

**As always, thanks for every kind of support you show me (Special thanks to the people who actually still review some of the earlier chapters, I like to get feedback for them as I'm always trying to improve them slightly :3)**

**Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, who I'm not. Sadly.  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	18. Dahlia

**Chapter 18: Dahlia**

As Harry entered Flourish and Blotts most of the mob of people who had been there for Auror Robards' presentation had left. He could easily walk around through the shop now but there was no sign of Ron and Hermione. He hadn't needed _that_ long with Neville, had he? Though there was still the possibility of his friends getting something which also 'wouldn't need long', not expecting him back so soon.

So he decided to look through the books instead, he had wanted to buy some anyway. As long as he went to Gringotts afterwards there shouldn't be a problem with buying clothes and a trunk later, too, as these things also were on his mental shopping list.

But for now, he focused on the books. Apart from _Wards from all around the World_ he wanted books about Wizarding Law, as it could never hurt to know ones rights. Also he decided to get some biographies of himself. He could kick himself for never having bought any of them as there were several, because all those people who he had never met probably believed every word from these books... time to understand what the Wizarding World actually thought how he lived and so on.

He took a few other books that caught his interest before paying for them, asking the clerk behind the counter if they could keep his books for him until he came back at about half past three. The man didn't seem all too happy, but Harry had just spent quite a lot of money at the shop, so he agreed.

Harry then leaned against the side of a bookshelf to watch the door, wondering when his friends would be back.

It wasn't very interesting, even though many people entered and left, ignoring him as they didn't recognize him, for which he was incredibly glad. Still, staring at the door kind of looked suspicious so in the end he looked around in the shop instead, observing the buying habits of some customers.

There was a woman who was standing near the fiction section, seemingly absorbed in one of the books she had taken out of the shelf.

Another woman seemed to be in a hurry, quickly scanning the shelves before taking out whatever books she needed.

Then there was a boy, looking almost ready for Hogwarts, who tried convincing his father into buying him _Quidditch Through the Ages_... Another, younger looking boy showed his mother a book named _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ that he obviously wanted.

It was actually a pretty entertaining occupation and only after quite a few minutes Harry noticed someone who seemed to be a bit out of place.

Flourish and Blotts mostly prided itself on it's variety, so of course there also was a small section of books with questionable contents. Sadly, Harry had not been able to buy any books from there, he didn't even dare to linger around there for too long. People would surely jump to the wrong conclusions, thinking he wanted to become the new Dark Lord - or another one, since Voldemort was still around, even if they didn't believe it.

But right now, he saw a girl - younger than himself, but definitely older than eleven - standing at one of the shelves, on tiptoes, trying to reach one of the books at the top shelves. Since the 'good' people completely ignored that section and the people who didn't were mostly of the 'fend for yourself'-type, no one seemed to be helping her.

Harry sighed. Oh well...

He walked over to her, needing to stand on tiptoes himself - thanks to his small size for his age, courtesy of his lovely relatives - but being able to get the book anyway, handing it to her.

"There... That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" he asked, smiling slightly while at the same time hoping she wasn't one of the people out to get his head because of him being a 'freak' or a 'crazy liar'.

"Thank you!" she answered, smiling brightly as she took the book from him. "I've tried to get that bloody book for the last five minutes, but I'm just too small...! And no one deemed it proper to help a lady in distress!" She scrunched up her nose while looking at the other customers, before shaking her head and looking back to Harry, the smile back on her face. "But now you are here, my knight in shining armour!"

Harry stared at her, unsure of what to say. The girl seemed oddly spirited and quite... unpredictable. Though at least she had stopped talking now, probably having noticed that her 'knight' hadn't said anything more after his initial question.

"Ah, sorry, I was rambling, where are my manners? I'm Dahlia," she explained, holding out her free hand to shake.

Harry hesitated for a moment, wondering if she really didn't know who he was or deliberately ignored it, deciding that it didn't really matter if he just said his first name.

"I'm Harry."

He returned her smile, albeit a little hesitant, before shaking her hand. Which she hadn't withdrawn. She didn't even flinch or showed any other reaction. So ignorance, it was. Well, all the better for him.

After that, silence spread out between them as Harry didn't know what to say and Dahlia didn't offer a new topic either.

"So... How is it that a girl like you finds herself in this part of the shop?" he finally asked rather awkwardly, since it would have been really impolite to just leave.

Dahlia raised an eyebrow at that. "...Are you flirting with me?"

Harry eyes widened at that. "No!" he hurriedly said, before realising that this probably was quite impolite too. "I mean..." He stopped, blushing in embarrassment. Great way to make a fool out of himself. Why did girls have to be so complicated?!

Though his opponent just started giggling.

"Don't worry, it was just a joke. I know it's probably looking weird, a thirteen years old girl looking at the darkest books Flourish and Blotts has to offer..." She shrugged. "Not that these are any good. I mean, the one you got me is probably the only real useful thing." She held the book up for him to see. "It's about potions that are classified as dark. You don't even get the recipes, just a bit of general blah. But at least there are names and descriptions of their effects and durations..."

Harry stared at her. If she knew what the book contained and didn't really like it, why did she buy it at all? And if she was thirteen, why was she not at school?

"Judging from your expression, you want to know why I want the book if I don't much like it, right?" she asked, smiling once more as she saw him nodding hesitantly. "Well, I'm buying the book for a friend of mine who doesn't want to be associated with the 'Dark Arts'..." She shook her head, having used air quotes for the last two words. "Really, that stuff isn't even really dark. Sure, some ingredients are... harder to get then others, but most potions can be used for good purposes too. Well, except for the poisons, but there are many poisonous potions that aren't labelled 'Dark' either, so whatever."

Harry stared at her as she ranted about things he privately thought too. He couldn't believe that he was actually meeting someone who thought the same...! Most of the wizarding world seemed so... ignorant about things if they had to _think_ to come to a conclusion. It was... tiring.

"Um... I guess you don't care for stuff like that, huh? You're against everything Dark after all..." Dahlia suddenly said, having probably misinterpreted his expression.

Now, how to answer without starting rumours about him turning Dark...?

"Well, yeah, I _am_ against the 'Dark side', hard not to be if it's the side of the guy who killed your parents," he mumbled, barely registering Dahlia cringing slightly at his intonation. "But that doesn't mean I'm believing everything I'm being told. I've heard about falsely classified spells and potions too. Some healing spells for example."

Now it was her turn to stare, flabbergasted. "You mean, you believe me?"

"Uh... yes?" Harry wasn't sure if it was a good idea to announce that openly, but oh well, most people thought he was delusional anyway, what difference did it make if people did get to know about it? Though he hoped that would not happen.

Dahlia certainly didn't seem mad about it. In contrast, she was beaming.

"That's brilliant! Sure, a few relatives of mine look at things the same way that I do, but to have a complete stranger thinking about things like I do? And that stranger being... well, you? I've never thought that you are crazy by the way!"

Somehow, the girl reminded Harry of Colin Creevey with her enthusiastic chatter, but at least she spoke quietly and didn't outright state that he was Harry Potter even though it was more than obvious that she knew.

"So... have you read much about... 'good Dark Magic'?" Dahlia continued as he didn't interrupt her.

He just shrugged. "Not really. It isn't a very common topic to be breached in books. And I'm not exactly in the best position to buy books covering these things."

She nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense..." Suddenly though, she perked up. "You know what? _I_ could buy the books for you! I'm used to things like that and I've actually read quite a lot of interesting things...! I know where to find them, too. I would just go there, buy some of the best and we could trade books against the money when I come back, as I'm pretty sure you won't just give some random girl your money to buy something for you. How about it?"

Harry stared at her. Was she serious? To get new books of these themes would be great, since he had already finished the ones he had taken from the Black library, but to trust someone completely unknown to buy something for him? Sure, the girl looked innocent enough, but these days you never knew, especially if someone already read about Darker themes...

Dahlia obviously noticed his hesitation as the thoughtful expression was back on her face.

"I can understand your concern, with magic around it's hard to believe anything you see. Though if it reassures you at all, I'm a Squib. I couldn't cast a spell if my life depended on it. Though I'm pretty good with potions as you don't need magic for that. Anyway, I guess I shouldn't bombard you with more information about myself that you didn't even ask about, so instead, how about that: I'll go buy the books, we meet up somewhere later and you can look at them. If you don't want them or anything just tell me, I will either return them or give them to someone else. Hell, you don't even have to show up if you change your mind..."

He blinked, surprised, wondering for a second if Dahlia could actually read his mind or anything as she managed to solve most problems he saw with that whole thing. They really seemed to think alike. And he could still change his mind...

"Alright... though I still need to do a few things... Let's meet in... about an hour at... Florean Fortescue's?" he suggested and Dahlia nodded in response.

"Sounds good to me. That should give me enough time to get all the books I have in mind... And we can wait fifteen minutes if one of us gets delayed before leaving if the other doesn't show up, alright?"

Harry agreed and soon they said their goodbyes, with Dahlia paying for her book and Harry leaving the shop to go to Gringotts as Ron and Hermione still hadn't shown up. They would survive one afternoon without each other and Shiva was very aware of their surroundings in case someone decided to do something stupid.

Not that this was very probable as Harry was pretty good at blending into the crowd, especially since he had begun to let his hair grow slightly longer which made him look less like his father than before and concealed his scar nicely as long as no one looked too closely. He would be fine.

ooo

The next surprise awaited him shortly after he had used the last of his money to get himself a decent lunch - as he had not eaten anything after breakfast today. He had went to Gringotts to get enough money for the books - though he had forgotten to ask how many books Dahlia wanted to buy... What if he did not have enough money with him? - and other stuff.

And he had just stated his name.

"Mr. Potter. We have been expecting you for a while now," the goblin behind the counter interrupted him before he could even state his purpose. Confused Harry watched it leave the counter for a moment, soon returning with another goblin. One Harry actually recognized.

"Griphook...?"

Now it was the goblins turn to look surprised, albeit only slightly, almost as if he hadn't thought Harry would know his name. But he nodded.

"Exactly. Now Mr. Potter, if you would follow me?"

Without awaiting a response Griphook turned and walked to one of the doors, leaving Harry to hurriedly following him. The only confusing thing was that they didn't go to the door that lead to the railway and thus, the vaults.

"Um... Where are we going?" he asked quietly, since the hall itself wasn't very noisy.

"To one of the private rooms," Griphook replied curtly.

Furrowing his brows Harry looked around as they went through the door the goblin had headed for, seeing another marble corridor in front of them. From there they passed a few doors with all kinds of crests on them, one for each door, before finally stopping at one. Harry examined the crest for a bit - it was mostly coloured in red and gold and somehow reminded him of the Gryffindor crest though the only animal present was a stag, it's antlers flowing into the border on both sides - as Griphook placed his hand on the door knob, waiting for a bit before a slight click signalised that the door had opened.

"Only I am keyed into this door so you do not have to fear others entering to steal your secrets," he explained, before opening the door fully to let himself in, waiting for Harry to follow.

He did, blinking at the tingle that went through him as he passed the threshold, looking once more at Griphook.

"Don't worry, the doors are enchanted to only let goblins and wizards of the correct family through them. The tingle you probably felt was the magic checking if you were a rightful member of the Potter family. Which you are, as you would have crumbled to ashes otherwise."

Harry just nodded absent-mindedly, not all too surprised by the glee he could hear at the last words. Goblins were quite the sadistic folk.

As Griphook closed the door, Harry took a look around the room. It wasn't very big but since the furniture was very basic it didn't need to be. There was a small desk in the middle of the room as well as two wooden chairs on both sides, one obviously made for a goblin as it was higher. There were no windows and the only light came from a fireplace at the far wall, while wooden cabinets standing on the walls left and right of him, full of whatever stuff this room was used for.

Which brought him back to the main question.

"Say, to what exactly owe I the visit of the... private room of the Potters?" Harry wondered aloud, putting together the purpose of the room based on Griphooks comments from before, as they sat down on the chairs.

The goblin stared at him as if he had asked how to fly a broom.

"Did you not care about the changes awaiting you after your emancipation?"

Now it was Harrys turn to stare at Griphook blankly.

"...Emancipation?"

If a third person looked at them right now they probably would have thought they walked into a private 'Who can look more confused?'-contest. It would have been quiet fun, too, but since Harry was one of the 'participants', it wasn't.

Thankfully, Griphook caught himself after a few seconds.

"Mr. Potter, we do not know - nor do we care - _how_ it happened, but you got emancipated at the 31st October 1994. Since that day, we were waiting for you to arrive to inform you of the changes your emancipations brings for you in regard of everything that is managed by the goblins."

"Well... great... but what does emancipation mean?"

Griphook stared at him once more.

"You... do not know?"

Harry silently shook his head, wondering how often you could see a speechless goblin. He somehow felt as if he was breaking some record.

Griphook sighed.

"I will never understand you wizards. Obviously not understanding when things should be kept a secret and when it is important to inform others." He looked Harry in the eyes. "Emancipation basically means coming of age without turning seventeen. That means you have been a major since almost a year."

Harrys jaw dropped and he needed more than a few seconds to collect himself, happy to already sit on a chair. He wasn't a minor anymore?

"What... does being emancipated entail...?" he finally asked after another long moment.

"Just the same things turning seventeen would. You are allowed to make your own decisions without needing your guardians permission. You can use magic whenever you want and you can take the apparition exam. But most importantly, there are changes regarding your access to your Gringotts vaults. Since you are the heir of the Potter family, you now have access to the family vault - the vault you have accessed up until now being your trust vault which has been created by your parents shortly after your birth - and the estates of the Potter family. Also, since you are the last Potter and the former Head of your House - James Charlus Potter - is dead, you are now the new Head of House Potter," Griphook explained, looking slightly smug at Harrys obvious confusion.

Whose head was spinning by now. That was quite a lot of information to process. He was... the new Head of House Potter, because he was suddenly emancipated? How did that happen anyway?

He thought about it. Last Halloween...?

And then it struck him.

Last Halloween. The Triwizard Tournament. It was the day his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire. The day he had been selected to participate in a tournament for adults only. Somehow the fact that he _had to_ participate must have led to his emancipation. That way, he was an adult and could participate...

At least that's what he thought, he really needed to take a look at a few books concerning the Goblet of Fire.

"So... I'm the Head of House Potter now... does that come with any... obligations?" Harry finally asked weakly.

"You will be expected to wear the Head of House ring as a proof of who you are. That way, your voice will weight slightly more as the Potters are a respected pureblood family. You may buy or sell any kind of estates and make any contracts, magically binding and otherwise. But no, there aren't real obligations as the Potters kept themselves mostly out of the political department."

ooo

With only five minutes to spare Harry finally left Gringotts, heading to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour at once.

It had been... really enlightening, to talk with Griphook about everything... By now, Harry wore the signet ring which had the crest of his family engraved - the procedure to place it on his finger had been full of safety measures again, making him happy that he wasn't some impostor or anything as he probably would have died pretty fast - which was proof enough that he was allowed to do as he pleased. Also he now knew of all estates the Potter family had, which meant the small house in Godrics Hollow that was currently used as some kind of memorial for his family, a castle somewhere in Northern Ireland where his family had lived at times when castles were normal that dusted away by now, and a manor in Ireland which had been the main house for his family.

He really wanted to visit the last place, he even had taken two of the five two-way-Portkeys that brought a person to the manor once you said the correct password ("Dílis don deireadh", the Irish family motto of the Potters, basically meaning "loyal to the end") and could even transport you back. The second Portkey was, of course, for Sirius.

Also, he had shortly visited the family vault, which had stunned him again with it's size - though the all different trinkets had been more impressive than the money, actually - and finally he had been able to make his withdrawal from his own vault.

Which brought him back to the fact that he was almost late, so he hurried down the street, soon standing in front of Florean Fortesue's. A quick look showed him that Dahlia sat outside at one of the tables, eating green coloured ice cream with a book in her other hand, two bags full of books next to her. Harry stood there for a bit longer, wondering if it really was okay to meet up with her, but she seemed innocent enough. Shrugging, he went over to her after making a quick detour to get himself a strawberry sundae, getting a smile and a "I believe in you!" from Florean Fortescue, who had helped him two years ago with his history homework. Really, he was a good man.

Anyway, Harry had finally reached Dahlia, seating himself next to her after a short greeting.

She positively beamed at him.

"You came! I wasn't sure about it - of course not, how could I? - but I'm glad you did! I got everything I thought of and more, but of course you don't need to take them all, you can simply browse and see what sounds interesting!"

She continued talking for a few seconds before suddenly interrupting herself. "Sorry... I should stop talking so much, shouldn't I? What do you think?"

"Well... I guess the idea is pretty good, though I don't think the location is the best for openly looking at books like that..." he answered, lowering his voice as to not attract the attention of other tables.

"But isn't that making it so brilliant?" Dahlia said, smiling happily. "No one would suspect someone reading anything forbidden at an Ice Cream Parlour."

She held up the book she had been reading. _Dark Arts and Healing: A Contradiction?_ Harry blinked. That certainly didn't sound like a book a thirteen year old girl _should_ read... but he really hadn't noticed.

"Alright... What do you have?"

ooo

In the next forty minutes they finished their ice creams while looking through both bags, Harry deciding if it was something worth to be bought.

Surprisingly, he and Dahlia had quite a similar taste as he really liked the books she chose, causing him to merely skim the last ones - though not totally trusting her, that would have been careless.

In the end he opted for buying all the books from her except for one which he had already read as it had been in the Black Library.

It was surprising how well they fitted and he had the feeling that Dahlia felt the same, though her constant chattering made it hard to guess what she was thinking.

Still, Harry insisted on somehow returning the favour of her buying his books, so he convinced her to pay for a small ring she had wanted to fetch from the small jeweller of Diagon Alley.

Standing in front of the shop it was now time to part, as Dahlia had to go home while Harry _still_ needed new clothes and a trunk.

"So... It was really nice meeting you," the girl stated happily, smiling at him.

"Yeah... Think we could see each other again?" Harry asked, causing her to smirk slightly.

"What, two meetings and you already fancy me? Can't deny my attractiveness I guess."

She winked while Harry rolled his eyes, smiling - he had blushed the first few times she had pulled that thing on him, but by now he knew she was joking.

"Anyway," she continued. "I'm _very_ sure we will meet again, just not the way you might think right now."

Harry blinked, confused. "Huh?"

She smiled again. "Don't worry, you'll see! But I _really_ need to go now, so... until then: Goodbye!"

She kissed him on the cheek, laughing at his dumbstruck expression, before vanishing in the crowd, probably not even hearing the hurried "Bye!" Harry shouted after her anymore.

That girl was certainly something and only in retrospect Harry would realize that he had been really, really lucky that that whole 'meeting with a stranger to let them buy something for you' had went so well, especially considering the fact that even Diagon Alley hadn't been the safest place to be at these times.

Well, he guessed that it was simply his weird luck and slightly different appearance being behind it. The real reason was something for... later.

* * *

**I'm sorry that the chapter wasn't as action-filled as some of you hoped, you had really cool ideas but they really didn't fit into the story... But do not worry, there _should_ be sat least _some_ action once Harry and Tom finally stand on the same side... And I sure hope that it won't need long anymore!**

**How did you like Dahlia? She's a bit strange, I know, but... well, she's special, somehow ;p (But no Mary Sue or - even worse! - a self insert, so do not worry!)  
And I sure hope the Gringotts part wasn't over the top, but I don't think so... Well, I'll see what you think ;)  
**

**Thank you so much for all the reviews and so on, and darn, more than 400 reviews and ONE THOUSAND followers? I'm flattered! So glad you like this story! :3**

**Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling and so on...  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**

**P.S: If anyone can tell me how badly I screwed up with that Irish phrase it would be very much appreciated. I used Google Translator for it so I can only guess that it might be utter rubbish. Feel free to correct me if it is.**


	19. Seriously?

**Chapter 19: Seriously?**

Harry found Ron and Hermione about half an hour later - he had used the time to visit Madame Malkins and the local trunk shop to order both new clothes and a new trunk, though he had to return later to collect the things - standing outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies, the former staring longingly at the broomstick that was on display. A Nimbus Two Thousand Five Hundred if Harry could believe the sign next to the broom, that promoted the broom not unlike it had done with the firebolt two years ago.

Well, their rivals never rest, huh?

But at least he had found his friends that were right now apologising profusely for leaving Flourish and Blotts.

"Honestly, we thought it wouldn't be long, Ron just wanted to take a look at the new broom and... well..."

"Mate, you won't believe it!" Ron interrupted her, sounding completely baffled. "Hermione _bought_ something there! And it wasn't for you or me, I asked!"

"Yes Ron, I sometimes buy Quiddtich-related things, so what? You do too!" Hermione mumbled, blushing.

"But _I'm_ actually playing!"

"Oh whatever...! Anyway, we needed longer than we had thought and... well, once we returned to Flourish and Blotts you were nowhere in sight. We waited a bit hoping you'd show up later but we got hungry so we left again to get something to eat. Ron wanted to return here to goggle at that new Broom and... yeah, here we are," Hermione explained, ignoring the protesting Ron who said he had just wanted to _look_ at the broom and that he certainly hadn't goggled. Harry secretly was on Hermiones side with this, but wisely kept his mouth shut, being glad that he had everything he wanted with his firebolt.

Instead, Ron added something... surprising... after their little squabble had ended.

"So, did you have fun with your girlfriend?"

"What?" Harry asked, completely confused, just as Hermione said "Ronald! You can't just ask something like that! You don't even know if it is his girlfriend!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Harry asked, again, before another argument could arise.

"Well, after we had eaten we thought about getting ice cream... And then we saw you with that brown-haired girl at Florean Fortescue's, deep in conversation over some books or something like that. But you both ate ice cream, so we assumed it was a date and left," Ron explained, causing Harrys eyes to widen.

"Well, actually, Ron wanted to _go over to you_ and ask, but I dragged him away before he could," Hermione added, rolling her eyes. "It was obvious you two wanted to be alone, I mean, the way she _looked_ at you...!"

"So, is she your girlfriend?" Ron asked bluntly, earning a slap on the shoulder from Hermione.

"No!" Harry hurriedly said, though he wasn't sure he hadn't blushed, judging from the warmth in his cheeks... And Hermiones weird comment didn't make it better. "It's nothing like that, I just met Dahlia today! She was nice, but we just talked, nothing more! Honestly..."

His friends stared at each other and then back at him, not looking very convinced.

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself. "Look guys, you _know_ I can't have a girlfriend, how should I have gotten one? At the Dursleys? At Headquarters?"

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, you're right... I'm sorry."

Ron still looked more suspicious. "Huh... What if she's the one sending you those letters? Wouldn't it fit?"

"Uhm... no, I don't think so... But I'll try to keep an open mind, alright?" Harry said, trying not to sound too sure. Because honestly, there was no way she could have gotten the full prophecy, or something like that. But Ron didn't know that, so he shouldn't make it too obvious that he had more information available about his secret writer than Ron had.

Instead, he changed the topic, asking about the broom on display, which effectively erased any thoughts of Dahlia in Rons mind. Instead he launched into a lengthy description of why the newest Nimbus was better than the Firebolt. With Harry soon joining in defending his favourite broom, as really, the new Nimbus was just the try to get some of the fame of the Firebolt, it had no breakthrough improvements inside.

ooo

They talked about a few other things afterwards, returning to Florean Fortescue's for ice cream meanwhile. Only fifteen minutes before their meeting to leave the Alley, Harry remembered the two shops he still had to return to to get his stuff and he and his friends hurried to Madame Malkin's, which was nearer than the trunk shop.

He had bought five tops, three trousers, some underwear and socks and two casual wizarding robes. Madame Malkin had taken his measurements and made the stuff from scratch, which was the only reason why he had chosen to come back later even though she was incredibly fast, thanks to magic. But since he had wanted self-repairing and auto-resizing charms on them - he would, hopefully, still grow and with his luck his clothes might get damaged from time to time - it had needed slightly longer.

Soon he had paid for his stuff and was now carrying another two bags, though actually, Hermione and Ron each kindly carried one of them, leaving Harry only with the two book bags. Yes, it was really time to get his trunk.

He had went there first, not knowing how long charming a trunk might need, especially since he had no idea what he wanted. Thankfully, the shopkeeper had been very nice and helpful, explaining to him the pros and cons of the different charms one could put on a trunk. After the consultation he had chosen a very simple, brown trunk that didn't seem very flashy. The only real eye-catcher was the Potter family crest which was visible on the upper side of the trunk. Once you opened it, it stood at an angle of ninety degrees, the lower part being slightly enlarged, to stow away clothes and stuff like that. The upper part had two modes, depending on which password you uttered before opening the trunk. Without any password, all you got was a boring old trunk with tattered old clothes inside. Otherwise, each revealed a bookshelf that was slidable from left to right, helping the owner of the trunk to stow away a lot of books inside as there were seven rows that fit _quite_ a lot of books each. And the shelves of both compartments weren't connected, meaning the space was doubled and Harry finally had a place to put his darker books to without having to fear their discovery. Under each shelf were two drawers that could be extended to cover the trunk part with the clothes, being divided into smaller segments for potion ingredients or other more valuable stuff. These things also were in both compartments and not connected. It truly was a trunk designed for bookworms or Potions masters.

Honestly, that thing combined with a charm to make it feather-light - which had been added for free as a thank-you for Harry spending way too much money at the store - and full compatibility to any charms Harry might want to add later was almost _perfect_. Yes, it had been expensive, but Harry really hoped to not be needing a new trunk anytime soon, preferably never again.

He opened the first compartment right away, storing the bags of his shopping trip inside while deciding on a relatively simple password ('Padfoot'), before he and his friends finally went back to Flourish and Blotts, needing to hurry slightly to get there on time.

But they managed it.

ooo

Once they had arrived, Harry talked to the clerk behind the counter to get the rest of his books to put away into his trunk before the three of them went to their teachers who already stood at their meeting point.

"Ah, Mr. Potter!" Professor Pyrites said as he recognized Harry. "Would you have a small talk with me in private? The students will probably need a few more minutes to gather anyway. Don't worry, you're not in trouble."

"Uh... sure."

He told his friends he'd be right back before following his teacher to a more secluded spot in the shop, wondering what he wanted to say that was important enough that it couldn't wait.

Once they had arrived, Professor Pyrites took a look around, before starting to talk.

"Look, you are probably wondering why I wanted to speak with you right now instead of once we are back at Hogwarts, but it's actually pretty simple: I want to make you an offer. Sadly, I'm not very sure if Headmaster Dumbledore would approve, so I didn't want to let everyone know I wanted to ask you something."

Harry blinked, surprised. What kind of offer could that be if Dumbledore might not approve?

"Oh, it's nothing bad," his teacher assured as he saw his expression. "I just wanted to know if you would like to get extra training. I have noticed that you are very talented in Defence, but I can only put so many spells into my class. Especially, since some of your classmates obviously have more troubles than others."

By now, Harry stared openly at Professor Pyrites. Extra training? From an actually competent teacher? Wicked...!

"Glad you like the idea," Professor Pyrites commented, signalising that Harry had accidentally spoken the last word aloud. Oops...

"But, why would Dumbledore - I mean, _Professor_ Dumbledore - have something against it?" Harry asked.

"Well... I'm not sure, but I remember him being not very keen on an idea I had back at the start of September, about some kind of study group where I could help my better students with more spells and tactics."

Huh... weird. Especially so since Dumbledore had had no problem with Lockharts duelling club back in Harrys second year. Even though that thing had been a complete disaster.

"Anyway, it's not as if he will ask you if you receive extra training in Defence, right? So you don't have to lie."

Harry nodded, slowly. If Dumbledore _did_ ask, he probably knew about it already, so it wouldn't matter anymore anyway. And with that problem out of the way there was only one question that remained.

"When should we meet up for that training?" he wondered, causing a thoughtful expression on his teachers face.

"Well... my timetable is pretty full most of the week... How about Wednesday, first period?"

Harry thought about his own timetable, before shaking his head. "I'm in Divination then, regrettably. Though I'm free the next period."

"That's when I'm teaching the seventh-years. After lunch?"

Harry shook his head again. "I'm busy the rest of the day. Though Thursday is pretty free, there is only Potions in the afternoon."

"That's good, my Thursday is almost free too. Let's use the first period. Provided you are already awake by then," Professor Pyrites said, grinning at the last part.

Really, for being a teacher he sometimes had quite the 'big brother'-attitude. Which made it almost too easy to forget that the man still could give and take house points however he saw fit.

Harry nodded anyway. "Thursday morning sounds good. I'm an early riser, there shouldn't be any problems with getting up."

"Very well! Then that's settled. We'll start in two weeks which should give me enough preparation time for everything. Let's go back to the others now!"

Harry nodded and already turned back as Professor Pyrites spoke up once more. "Oh, right! Mr. Potter, you may tell your friends about our agreement, but please stick to those who are less prone to gossip."

"Of course professor," Harry answered, having turned back to look at his teacher once more before finally making his way back to Ron and Hermione, to tell them what was going on.

Well, now _that_ had been an interesting road trip!

ooo

The following days were considerably calmer. By Thursday Harry had discovered the reason of his emancipation: The Goblet of Fire was known for placing a magically binding contract upon the champions of the Triwizard Tournament but since those contracts could only be established between legal adults, every wizard that wasn't of age in their country got emancipated once their name came out of the goblet. A fact everyone who had wanted to participate in the past had been informed of.

It had needed quite a few trips to the library to get it, with Hermione following him around, sometimes even reading over his shoulder as she insisted that these books had not been there last year, but it had been worth the search as he liked understanding the things that happened around him. It didn't happen often enough anyway.

After that problem solved he finally started with the books Dahlia had bought for him, choosing one at random since he really didn't know much about them. He had sorted them all into the second compartment of his trunk after returning from the trip to Diagon Alley (choosing a Parseltongue password for it, just in case) but he hadn't had the time to look any closer into them than he had done at Florean Fortescue's. So he had thought that it didn't matter.

But once more, his incredible 'luck' had come forth, guiding him to take one of the few books he had not really looked into before accepting them. And while the cover looked very promising, something about the history of Dark Arts, somehow the content didn't match the name. At all.

It was a book about holidays.

At least the holidays mentioned weren't your typical holidays like Christmas or Easter. It was a book about wizarding holidays, named _Imbolc_ or _Lughnasadh_. He had never before heard of them, so he read the book anyway, but swore to himself to check the contents of _every_ book he would get in the future, even if the cover seemed fitting. Errors could happen but he'd rather know beforehand.

Still, the insight into wizarding traditions at least proved to be quite entertaining, as he noticed a few things he had never cared for in the past. Like how on the twenty-fourth of October - the eleventh new moon this year, making it a holiday called _Samhain_, to honour the dead - quite a few Slytherins were missing from their table, as well as some other students if he paid attention to it. He wondered if they were allowed to go home just for the evening, as they had been present before and the day after that.

He had gotten a letter from Quetzalcoatl that day too, wishing him a nice Samhain as well as telling him a spell to expand the internal space of any object while letting it seem the same on the outside. It certainly reminded him of the tents they had used at the Quidditch Worldcup last year and he told himself that he would practise it in private later.

Still, nothing all too exciting happened. Not until Halloween.

ooo

The day itself was quiet, too, though Harry had been slightly wary of it, but as he walked back to the Gryffindor common room with Ron, Hermione and Neville after the Halloween Feast he had almost convinced himself that this year there wouldn't be any unpleasant surprises. No troll, no opened Chamber of Secrets, no believed to be crazy mass murderer or a confounded Goblet of Fire.

But really, he shouldn't have bothered.

Only a few feet separated him from a fun evening with his friends as suddenly, he heard someone call out his name.

"Harry, wait!"

He turned around to see Colin Creevey run up to him. Inwardly he groaned, fearing that his personal fan might want to spend time with him now as they really didn't talk much these days.

He had already opened his mouth to say that the timing was _really_ bad, but the fourth-year just held out a folded piece of parchment to him.

"Here, I was told to give that to you. And Happy Halloween!"

"Um... thanks. And Happy Halloween to you too," Harry mumbled, slightly perplex, as Colin had already passed him with a smile.

Well, it seemed as if he had grown up a bit... All the better.

"So, what does it say?" Hermione suddenly piped up next to him, looking at the parchment and Harry opened it curiously.

_Dear Harry,  
I know this letter must reach you at an inconvenient time, but I would like to speak with you in my office. Preferably as soon as this letter reaches you.  
Yours sincerely,  
Albus Dumbledore  
P.S. Did you know that Fudge Flies are quite well-liked sweets?_

Harry stared at his friends confused, before Ron voiced just the question he had wondered about.

"Why does Dumbledore want to speak with you right now? Couldn't it have waited until tomorrow?"

"Ron, maybe it's something important!" Hermione said at once, showing her trust in any authority figure once more, before looking at Harry. "You should go and see what he wants."

Harry nodded slowly. Yes, it was probably better.

"But what does that P.S. mean?" Neville piped up.

"Well... I guess it's the password for the gargoyle, you know? He always uses sweets as far as I'm aware," Harry explained and Neville nodded.

"Makes sense, I guess. So... see you later?"

"Yeah, you guys have fun, I'll probably tell you whatever is going on once I'm back."

He raised an arm before turning around, leaving his friends to walk to the fat lady while making his way to Dumbledores office, quietly explaining what was going on to Shiva once he turned into an empty corridor.

ooo

He didn't need long to reach the headmasters office, knocking twice before already hearing the "Enter." from Dumbledore thus letting himself in.

Harry stood awkwardly at the door, unsure of how to proceed.

"Have a seat, my boy," Dumbledore began, motioning to a chair that stood next to his desk and watching as Harry sat down just there. "Sherbet lemon?" He held the box with them up, but Harry just shook his head and Dumbledore put it back, studying them with his eyes while continuing to speak. "Alright. I am sure that you want to know why I called you today of all times as it wasn't the most fortunate appointment, but alas, you have to forgive an old man for wanting to cease his worries as soon as possible."

Harry didn't say anything, unsure if it was wise to nod, but as Dumbledore obviously knew it anyway, he decided on just keeping quiet to listen what that meeting was all about.

"First of all, I just want to ask you a question: Did you have any kind of weird dreams lately? Nightmares, perhaps?"

Harry frowned. What was that question about? And why did Dumbledore still look at his sweets? That was pretty rude.

"No, sir," he answered honestly anyway. "Should I have them?"

Dumbledore shook his head, looking deep in thought. "No, no, of course not. I merely feared that your connection with Voldemort might trouble you after his rebirth, but luckily I seem to have been mistaken."

Harry thought about his weird, Voldemort-related dreams for a moment. Should he tell Dumbledore about them? This would be his chance, but on the other hand, he had no idea if these were real visions or just weird dreams caused by stress or anything. After all, nothing indicated their truthfulness. His scar didn't hurt, Voldemort looked about as handsome as his sixteen year old self had been and the content didn't match anything he knew about the Dark Lord. And to trouble Dumbledore with mere dreams seemed stupid, Harry was sure the headmaster was a busy man.

So he just nodded, before another question sprang to his mind. "Sir, do you have any idea what Voldemort is planning? Why hasn't he attacked yet?"

Dumbledore was silent for quite a while then, making Harry fear he had somehow overstepped whatever boundaries existed with the headmaster.

But before he could open his mouth to apologize, Dumbledore decided to answer after all.

"That I do not know. I presume he wants to use the fact that the Ministry still believes him dead to operate in secret. But as for what he is planning... Only he knows for sure."

Well... that certainly seemed plausible. Though Harry was pretty sure that Dumbledore at least suspected what Voldemort was up to, it did make sense not to tell him everything. He was only a student after all. Well, except for that prophecy-thing, but really... Dumbledore wasn't honestly believing in _that_, was he?

"But Voldemort aside, that wasn't the only reason I asked for you today," Dumbledore continued after a short pause. "I noticed that you have taken a liking to certain jewellery lately?"

By now, Dumbledore had finally stopped looking at his muggle sweets and instead studied Harrys hands, where his signet ring was visible from their current position.

In a split second, Harry decided to use this question as some kind of test. He certainly wasn't the worst liar and it would be the perfect opportunity to see how much trust Dumbledore had in him.

It was one thing not to tell him about Voldemorts plans, but something else entirely if it had to do with his inheritance.

So Harry looked down at his ring, too. "Well... the goblins gave it to me when I visited Gringotts at the trip to Diagon Alley."

He wasn't sure how much Dumbledore knew about goblins and if it was normal for them to explain everything regarding these rings.

For now, the headmaster simply looked curious.

"Oh? Did they say anything about it?"

"Not much... I thought it looked cool, so I continued to wear it... Was that a bad idea?" Harry wondered aloud, hoping his innocent curiosity sounded believably enough. Which was probably easier as Dumbledore still refused to look him in the eye.

"Bad? Oh no, I actually expected something like this sooner or later. Do you know what it is?"

"Um..." Harry wasn't sure how obvious it should be, but Dumbledore probably expected him to have guessed what it was anyway. "It's some kind of family ring, I think?"

"Very good," Dumbledore confirmed. "It's the signet ring of the Potter family. Do you see that crest? It belongs to your family."

Harry nodded, feigning surprise. "Wow... But, does it change anything, sir? I mean... Why did the goblins give it to me?"

He had added the second question as he noticed the first one sounding too much as if he knew there should be _something_. But Dumbledore didn't seem to notice.

"Well, Harry... The ways of the goblins are mysterious, so there are many reasons why they might have given you the ring now. They might have recognised you as the sole heir of the Potter fortune, as these days, it is relatively common to give fourteen-year old children their heir rings. As for your first question: For now, it doesn't change anything. But it will once you will come of age when you turn seventeen. Because then you will be able to access your family vault, which contains family heirlooms and such."

"I... I have another vault?", Harry asked disbelieving, knowing that that had been his reaction back at Gringotts too.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. Most wizarding families have more than one vault: There is a main one, for heirlooms and objects of sentimental value, and heirs mostly have so called 'trust vaults', from which they may take money as much as they like. But everything else is off-limits until they come of age."

"Ah..." Harry mumbled, unsure of how to continue. So Dumbledore didn't want to tell him about his emancipation? Fine, then... He decided to give the man one last chance.

"So... I was wondering, is there any way for me to not go back to the Dursleys this summer? Maybe something being an heir helps with?"

Dumbledore seemed to ponder this for a moment before shaking his head. "No my boy, I fear you will have to go back to your relatives once more in June. But I am sure that getting you to Grimmauld Place can be arranged later during the holidays."

Ouch. He wondered how much Dumbledore actually knew. Was that the lack of knowledge talking? Or was there something else going on...?

Anyway, true to his expected reaction, he slouched his shoulders and looked down.

"Oh, alright..."

"Do not worry too much, I am sure it will not be that bad. You are family after all."

Harry didn't say anything to that, wondering if Dumbledore really believed what he was saying. It did seem probable, as the headmasters habit to try seeing the good in everyone was a good trait in it's essence, but there were situations when it did look like ignorance. Like right now.

But oh well, it didn't matter anymore, he had made up his mind by now. Dumbledore didn't seem to trust him with information, he wouldn't trust Dumbledore with information. Simple as that.

As he was dismissed with a wish for a good night and sent back to the Gryffindor Tower Harry was already pondering which persons were trustworthy enough to keep a 'secret' like that. After all, one man alone could never hope to achieve a lot, especially not once politics were involved. He would find a few supporters of his opinion and see what he could do once 'problem Voldemort' was out of the way.

His headmaster had just sort of dug his own grave.

* * *

**Phew, finally a new chapter! Honestly, this thing just didn't want to get written, it was almost annoying... ! But I finally did it and I hope you like it! Dumbledore is a really difficult character to write, especially if you want neither good!Dumbledore who helps Harry solving everything nor bad!Dumbledore who basically wants Harry miserable or/and dead, as really, he is just a man with a lot of power and responsibility on his shoulders.  
**

**So... other than that, any opinions? About Harrys decisions regarding Pyrites and Dumbledore? Or about the small things at the beginning? I was pretty unsure regarding Harrys trunk, since it's overpowered in so many fanfictions, with whole flats inside and so on... but a standard trunk seemed boring too, so I hope I found an acceptable middle course.**

I'm still so very happy that you continue to review this story and I hope that I won't disappoint you in the future! (Once more, I don't plan on abandoning this story ever, so even if I might need longer than usual, the update _will_ come)

**Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling (I wonder if it even makes sense, putting the disclaimer in every chapter? It should be obvious by now that I'm not JKR and/or thinking I'm owning HP oO)  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


	20. We need to talk

**Chapter 20: We need to talk.  
**

Once back at the Gryffindor common room he soon found Ron, Hermione and Neville sitting next to the fire, talking to each other.

"...so stop asking!" Hermione was just saying, while she looked pretty annoyed at Ron. "I'm sure he'll tell you when he returns!"

"But what if he-" Ron began, but Neville interrupted him. "Harry!"

He looked incredibly relieved and Harry couldn't blame him. Having to listen Ron and Hermione arguing wasn't fun at all.

"So? What did he want?" Hermione asked, her annoyance forgotten as she looked at him curiously.

Harry took a look around. The common room was still pretty full, people were chattering with each other about this or that, maybe about the Halloween Feast... No, it was a bit too risky to talk about it here.

"Let's go to the dormitory, okay?" he suggested and they all nodded, confused and - in Hermiones case - frowning slightly. Probably because it wasn't exactly the proper etiquette to go into the boys dormitory as a girl, but she had already done it before. She'd live.

Thankfully, Dean and Seamus were still downstairs, completely engrossed in a big battle of Gobstones between the Weasley twins and the Creevey brothers, so the room was empty before the four of them entered, with Harry magically locking the door afterwards, earning himself three confused stares.

"Sorry guys, just wanted to make sure our conversation stays private. I trust you not to tell anyone my secrets, but you can never know what people think of snippets they overhear, putting it together to some wrong idea."

The others nodded, though it was obvious that they didn't know why he wanted so much privacy.

He slowly walked to the window, looking at the already dark sky.

"So... what happened?" Hermione asked again, seemingly torn between impatience and curiosity.

"Well... before I'll tell you all the details, just a question: Do you know what that is?" he asked, turning back around to face them, holding up his hand with the signet ring on it.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a second before answering. "It's a signet ring. With the crest of the Potter family, as it's the same one you have on your trunk. So... it's probably your heir ring? I noticed you wearing it before, but I've never paid much attention to it..."

Harry nodded slowly, already opening his mouth to explain to her that she was at least mostly right as Neville suddenly spoke up.

"Um... Hermione? I don't think it's an heir ring. Though they do have the family crest on them they typically are completely silver, like mine." He put up his own hand where a ring just like Harrys was sitting, gleaming silver in the light of the candles that illuminated the room. But it did differ from Harrys ring, that - although it was basically silver too - had a fully coloured family crest. "That's a Head of House ring."

Both Ron and Hermione gaped at that. "Blimey Harry, you are the new Potter Head? Why didn't you tell us?" his best friend asked, while Hermione looked confused. "But... you can't be the Head of House, you're not even seventeen yet!"

"Well... that was something I wanted to explain to you but forgot to do..." he began, looking slightly embarrassed before telling them what had happened in Gringotts back then and how he had finally understood what happened.

"You mean, that was the reason you looked through all the books about the Triwizard Torunament?" Hermione asked after he had finished his story and he nodded.

"Exactly."

"But what does this have to do with Dumbledore?" she continued and he chuckled dryly.

"Well... How probable is it, not to know what the difference between an heir ring and a Head of House ring is?"

Neville frowned. "Unless you are muggleborn or a halfblood who hasn't had much contact with purebloods... I'd think it's pretty well-known."  
"That's what I thought. So... is there any reason why Dumbledore of all people wouldn't know what that ring really is?"

Neville shook his head, looking thoughtfully while Hermiones eyes widened. "He wanted to talk to you about the ring?"

Harry nodded. "Yep."

"And he... thought it was an heir ring?"

"Well, I don't know what he thought, you know Dumbledore, but he did tell me it was an heir ring. And he looked at it during almost the whole talk, I think him not recognizing it for what it is would actually make him slightly senile..."

"Harry!"

"Well, what am I supposed to think?!" he asked, growing annoyed with Hermione always defending her authority figures. She needed to learn that 'authority' didn't automatically mean 'good and always doing what's best'. "Really, he began asking about nightmares as if I _should_ be having them, but after I told him I didn't - which is the truth by the way, no reason to look at me like that - he began asking me about that ring. And _yes_, here I did lie to him. I was angry that he didn't even want to look me into the eyes when talking to me so I decided to play innocent, hoping he would actually explain to me what it means to be the Head of House Potter. You know what he did? He told me that it was an heir ring that many people got with fourteen or fifteen and that this wouldn't change anything if I wasn't seventeen. He even specifically told me I needed to go back to the Dursleys which I _know_ I don't need to, because I'm now the owner of three properties! I'm sorry, but how can I trust anyone who doesn't even trust me in the slightest? Especially if he just doesn't get how bad the Dursleys really are!"

Silence rang through the room after he had finished his rant, before Hermione piped up again.

"Surely it can't be that bad...?"

He stared at her and she almost visibly shrunk. "Hermione, do you really think I'm exaggerating when I'm saying that I don't want to go back every single year? Do you think it's a coincidence that I asked you for food last summer? There were _bars_ before my window the summer before our second year! Is that something you call a loving family?"

"But... maybe Dumbledore doesn't know...?"

"Well, that might have been a possibility, had he not placed an old lady who sometimes babysat me when I was younger as a watchdog. If she reported to him at all - which is pretty certain - he knew what was going on."

Really, he still felt bad about Mrs. Figgs death, especially since he knew by now that squibs were able to see Dementors. It must have been a horrible experience for her. But he was also angry that no one had ever informed him that she had actually spied on him.

He sighed, shaking his head. Really, that certainly didn't help Dumbledore to gain his trust back. If that was even a possibility anymore.

"Anyway. Think whatever you want, I just wanted to tell you what was going on. And I'd appreciate it if you'd keep that to yourself. I'm just really angry and disappointed in Dumbledore right now, so don't expect me to go to him anytime soon if I have a problem. Because really, I have friends like you. And if I'm asking you a question _you_ won't lie to me because of some weird reason no normal human understands. At least I hope so."

He got three nods.

ooo

The next day went by without further surprises. He had quietly told Shiva everything that had been going on in the morning, practising writing Parseltongue later during the day - he was slowly growing accustomed to the weird, squiggly lines - and finished most of his homework to pass the time until Astronomy. It was pretty usual.

The next day wouldn't be though and he already awoke even earlier than normal, being nervous about his first private lesson with Professor Pyrites. He wondered what he might learn and if it would be easier or harder than learning with Remus had been... He wondered enough that he wasn't able to concentrate on his book at all and finally made himself ready for the day instead. He arrived at the common room with fifteen minutes to spare, settling down on one of the comfortable chairs to wait, while looking around the almost empty room.

He knew that Ron wouldn't get up before lunch today, he never did on Thursdays as they only had Potions in the afternoon, but Hermione sometimes woke up early enough to join him.

And really, about ten minutes later he saw her descending the stairs leading to the girls dormitories, frowning slightly as she saw him.

"How do you always manage to be down here before me?" she asked him before he could even open his mouth.

He chuckled. "Good morning to you too. And maybe it's because girls need ages in the bathroom?" he answered, grinning as she harrumphed, crossing her arms and grumbling about men and their sense of humour.

They both made their way out of the common room soon afterwards, as Hermione stopped pretending to be annoyed with him, walking towards the Great Hall. It was actually quite cool to be awake that early, because you could calmly eat without the usual troublemakers making loud noises and - as an added bonus - watch some half-asleep students scribbling the last lines of their essays or something, mostly making a mess out of their breakfast. It sure was fun.

Though today they hadn't even reached the Great Hall yet as a voice called out.

"Mr. Potter, may I have a word with you?"

Surprised, they both turned around, looking at Professor McGonagall who stood behind them. She had probably come from her private chambers as she was one of the few teachers that sat at the teachers table for almost the whole breakfast, supervising the students to prevent too much chaos. So it wasn't all that surprising for her to walk the same way as them, Harry just wondered what she wanted.

"Good morning Professor," he greeted after overcoming his initial surprise. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Good morning," she replied. "You aren't in trouble if you were wondering, but I would like to talk to you in private for a moment."

She seemed almost hesitating which made Harry all the more curious. Still, he turned to look at Hermione, who just smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll save you a seat."

"Thanks," he answered, smiling back before turning back as she continued walking.

Professor McGonagall beckoned him into an unused classroom and he followed her with growing confusion.

After the door had been closed behind them she looked at him, as serious as ever but with a concerned glint in her eyes.

"Mr. Potter... I had a very interesting conversation with Professor Dumbledore yesterday evening and he seems to be under the impression that the ring you are wearing is not a normal ring. May I see it?"

Raising an eyebrow, Harry showed her the ring. What was that all about, was it some weird plan of Dumbledore? But that really didn't make any sense, so...

"Just as I have thought..." Professor McGonagall mumbled.

"Excuse me, but what's going on?" he finally asked after another few seconds of silence.

"Well, as far as I am aware, Professor Dumbledore has not told you this, but I think that you are acting responsible enough to understand the situation. This ring isn't for an heir, it's for the Head of House. Meaning it doesn't only symbolise what you will get once you turn seventeen, you are actually already having it. I think it is the work of the Goblet of Fire last year."

Harry blinked, surprised. "Why are you telling me this?"

Now it was Professor McGonagalls turn to look surprised. "I... must say I expected a different reaction. But oh well. I told you because I know that Professor Dumbledore wants to keep you in the dark. I think he means well and doesn't want to burden you with even more responsibilities, but I know what he told you and I cannot stand for it any longer. I have watched the Dursleys back when your parents had just died and I do not understand how the headmaster could still send you back without a problem. Especially since you aren't any better protected than at the headquarters of the Order."

Harry frowned. "Huh? But the blood wards-" he began, but his teacher interrupted him. "Are gone! I know that I am not supposed to tell you this, but I won't stand aside anymore. Once the Goblet of Fire had given out your name and you agreed to participate you were emancipated. It is as if you had turned seventeen on that very day. The blood wards were designed to protect you until you come of age, which has already happened. The only protections left are the most basic ones that every good hideout should have. You don't need to go back to refresh anything."

"Well, that's new..." Harry mumbled, staring wide-eyed at his Head of House. The protection Dumbledore insisted on wasn't even _there_ anymore? And even Professor McGonagall knew? His expression darkened.

"Thank you professor. I really appreciate that you told me even though Dumbledore didn't want that. The reason why I wasn't as surprised as you thought I would be was because I didn't tell him everything either. I already know about my ring, what I can do now and so on. And I didn't plan on returning to the Dursleys. But I didn't know that the protection has vanished already anyway."

Professor McGonagall stared at him. "You... knew? You lied to Albus Dumbledore?"

"Um... I didn't lie, I just... omitted information. The same way he likes to do. Though it wasn't very hard, he just kept staring on my ring, not once looking up into my face."

He frowned again, but Professor McGonagall seemed appeased.

"Fine. I cannot dictate your life nor do I want to. You seem to be mature enough to know what you are doing. You may go enjoy breakfast now."

Harry nodded and was already at the door, as Professor McGonagall spoke up again.

"Potter?" He turned around. "If you ever need someone to confide in, my quarters are always opened."

He smiled gratefully at her, though pretty certain he wouldn't take her up on that offer. "Thanks professor. I really appreciate it."

Then he walked out of the door and continued to the Great Hall. He was pretty sure that Hermione was dying to know what was going on, regardless if she would ask him about it or not.

And really, maybe that fact would help her understanding, that Dumbledore had long stopped being only the grandfatherlike headmaster he was supposed to be and instead meddled in things that had nothing to do with him.

ooo

During breakfast he explained everything to Hermione, who looked very thoughtful after he had finished. He looked around the Great Hall, watching a few other students who ate quietly before his eyes travelled to the teachers table.

Besides Professor McGonagall he could see Professor Sprout, who was talking to Professor Vector, Professor Pyrites and Professor Grubbly-Plank.

He wondered for a moment were Dumbledore was, but decided that he didn't care, especially because it wasn't all that unusual for the headmaster to show up at the end of breakfast. It wasn't as if there was any obligation for the headmaster to constantly watch all the students as long as they were safe.

He looked once more to Professor Pyrites, wondering how early he should arrive to not seem too eager, because really, classes wouldn't start for an hour or so, he didn't want to seem even weirder than he probably was.

But Professor Pyrites seemed completely focussed on something, having his gaze fixed on the table in front of him, but food blocked his sight so he didn't knew what it was. He just saw that whenever Professor McGonagalls gaze landed near Professor Pyrites she gave him a puzzled look.

He turned back to Hermione, quietly talking to her about homework, having almost forgotten the strange sight as suddenly he heard a few 'oh's and 'ah's and saw some students pointing up. He followed their stares and saw a quiet beautifully crafted origami bird flying in circles around the ceiling.

It began to sink and most students wondered to whom it would fly, but suddenly it vanished.

A disappointed groan ran through the tables but Harry looked over to Professor Pyrites whose eyes sparkled with amusement. He no longer looked in front of him but at least the mystery of what he had done had unravelled right now. Harry rolled his eyes, though with a small smile, and focused his attention back on Hermione. There still was that one problem with his History of Magic essay as she had pointed out a mistake he honestly couldn't see for himself.

Only a surprised gasp from her brought him out of that discussion as she pointed to his plate.

Yes, that weird origami bird had somehow landed in front of him, visible again. He wondered what to do with it, but that problem solved itself after he touched the bird, because it unfolded itself, revealing a short note.

_Mr. Potter,  
I see you weren't lying when you said you were an early riser.  
Just show up once you have finished eating, I don't have a problem with starting a bit earlier.  
A.P._

Harry stared at it for a moment, before looking back at the teachers table, but Professor Pyrites had already left.

That... solved his problem, though it was quite an unusual way.

He showed the note to Hermione before excusing himself. At least he did not have to wonder now what he should do the remaining sixty minutes.

He walked through the almost empty castle, dodging Peeves once who thought it funny to throw chalk at unsuspecting students, before he finally arrived in front of the office of Professor Pyrites.

Knocking once he was surprised that the 'Enter.' followed almost immediately. He slowly entered, observing the room once he had closed the door again.

And... wow. Professor Pyrites certainly loved swords.

He almost felt as if he had walked into a museum of a kind. Three of the four walls were full of swords, there were shelves full of books with swords in between and... yeah. It was all very dangerous-looking.

"Good morning Mr. Potter!" Professor Pyrites greeted from behind his desk that was located at the far wall, in front of a window which was the only part of that wall without a weapon on it.

"Good morning... " Harry answered, still feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"I guess you are surprised?" his teacher asked while standing up and walking around his desk.

Harry just nodded.

"Actually, it's pretty simple: As my father tried teaching me the depth of wandlore I got quite rebellious, tried to do something completely different. I started to learn sword fighting because I thought it would annoy my father the most - and it did - but I actually came to like it, so I began collecting swords."

Harry blinked, surprised. "You can fight with these things?"

"Exactly. Wicked, eh?" Professor Pyrites answered, winking at him. Harry chuckled slightly, but nodded anyway. The way this teacher talked to the students, it was really easy to feel comfortable. That probably explained his high popularity. Especially since he could be serious if necessary.

"Anyway," he continued after a short pause. "You're not here to learn sword fighting, and though that's a pity, I think Defence is important as well. I've thought for a while about what to teach you first, because there are many things that sadly, I cannot fit into the normal curriculum. But then I got an idea." He grinned, looking expectantly at Harry. "Have you ever heard of Occlumency?"

Harry frowned and thought about it. He was pretty sure that he had read the word somewhere in his books, but he couldn't remember where... He shook his head and Professor Pyrites nodded slowly.

"I thought so. Don't worry, it's not wide-spread knowledge, but it's a very helpful thing in many ways. It helps you to keep your mind organised and may even improve your resistance against the Imperius Curse! Though I've heard you don't really need assistance with that..." He looked approving, which made Harry look away, slightly embarrassed. "Anyway, the main point of Occlumeny is the defence against Legilimency, an art that, if used weakly, allows the user to know whenever you lie, but if used strongly he may read your thoughts, the ones you are thinking now and even your deepest secrets... The only good thing is, that it requires eye contact, but there is a spell that let's it's caster use Legilimency without looking into your eyes or even knowing the skill themselves."

Harrys eyes widened slightly. That... sounded really dangerous. "Are... there any known people here at school who are able to do Legilimency?" he asked after hesitating for a second, before, as an afterthought, adding "Or Occlumency?"

Professor Pyrites chuckled. "So you're having a few secrets? Don't worry, everyone has them, there's nothing wrong with it. As far as I am aware Professor Snape is a master Occlumens - which is the noun for people who are able to use Occlumency - and Professor McGonagall as well as Professor Flitwick have strong mental shields. I am quite sure that most of your other professors know Occlumency too, at least some basic level, but I don't know that for sure. Oh, and Headmaster Dumbledore is able to use Occlumency and Legilimency, of course."

Harry cursed inwardly. Of course Dumbledore was able to use Legilimency. So he was probably really, really lucky that Dumbledore had been so impolite and not looked into his eyes... He didn't want to imagine what the headmaster would have said if he had seen his new.. hobbies. Yes, learning Occlumency was a brilliant idea.

Professor Pyrites must have seen his expression, because he laughed slightly. "Yeah, most people look that way once they realise that Professor Dumbledore has that little skill. But as far as I'm aware he doesn't usually use it with his students. Except for that little thing to know if they're lying, I image that's helpful..." He shook his head. "Anyway, are you ready to start? Because though what we'll do today won't look like much, but it might be quite exhausting."

Harry nodded, focussing on his teacher, and their first lesson began.

ooo

He rarely had been that exhausted after one hour of training. Professor Pyrites hadn't lied, it had been mentally demanding, even though the exercise itself hadn't been hard. Professor Pyrites had shown him different ways to clear his mind, because thinking simply nothing was the first step to defend oneself. But that was easier said than done, because it needed a lot of concentration to stop thinking...

He wasn't rubbish at it, but it would need time and practise to maintain that control even in the face of an attack. Though Professor Pyrites had told him more than once, that simulating an attack would be something for much later, once he had mastered the basics in peace.

For now he would keep practising in the evenings before going to sleep, if he was awake long enough.

Because these days it was harder and harder to stay awake after falling into his bed, mainly because Angelina tortured the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team with her training methods. Sure, Harry could understand her, it wasn't easy for her being the Team Captain after Oliver Wood had left and the expectations lay high on her shoulders. But still, once there was only a week left until the first Quidditch game - Gryffindor versus Slytherin - she drilled them as bad as Wood had done in the past.

Which in itself wasn't a bad thing actually, mostly because Ron... well... he was very new at being the keeper and that fact was obvious because he was so very nervous he sometimes missed the Quaffle completely. Still, it narrowed the time span Harry had left for other things considerably. But well, it was only a week after all and they simply couldn't afford to loose against Slytherin. He would survive.

* * *

**Oh man... I'm sorry that this update needed so long! My only excuse are my exams that came up at the end of June, but... oh well... I still needed too long. D:  
I hope that you have liked this chapter anyway!**

**There were quite a few talks in this chapter, weren't there? And there are still a few to come I fear, though I actually think that the next chapter will have the return of at least one sweet character that has only been mentioned the last few chapters. :3  
And soon, there will be christmas! Though I don't think it will be the next chapter, maybe the one after that.**

**And thanks to everyone who reviewed, even thought that chapter needed longer than usual!**

**Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling and so on~  
**

**Regards, Violet-san**


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